Posted: Mon, Mar 4, 2002, 1:47 PM ET (1847 GMT)
Two shuttle astronauts successfully completed the first of five Hubble Space Telescope repair spacewalks early Monday. Astronauts John Grunsfeld and Rick Linnehan spent seven hours outside the shuttle Columbia early Monday to replace one of Hubble's two solar panels with a new model. The new solar panel, which unfolds rather than unrolls, is smaller than the older panels but generates more electrical power. The spacewalk was completed successfully and largely as planned, although the astronauts did fall slightly behind their timeline while working. The other solar panel on Hubble will be replaced in the second EVA early Tuesday by Jim Newman and Mike Massimino. Newman and Massimino will also replace one of the reaction control wheels on Hubble during their spacewalk.
