Astronauts start repairing Hubble Space Telescope

A pair of space walking astronauts have overpowered a stubborn bolt and successfully installed a new piano-sized camera in the Hubble Space Telescope.

A pair of space walking astronauts have overpowered a stubborn  bolt and successfully installed a new piano-sized camera in the  Hubble Space Telescope.(Photo: Xinhua/Reuters)

The installation on Thursday was the first step to make the observatory better than ever. The repair job is all the more dangerous because of the high, debris-ridden orbit.The two astronauts had trouble removing the old camera from the telescope because a bolt was stuck. They fetched extra tools, but none seemed to work.

Finally, Mission Control urged the astronauts to use as much force as possible, even though there was a risk the bolt might break. Fortunately, the extra effort paid off when they managed to remove the bolt, and then in stalled the new camera.

A total of five space walks are planned to fix Hubble's broken parts and plug in higher-tech science instruments.