Shuttle and Hubble (HST) Re-united at last

After a two-day approach to rendezvous with the Hubble Space Telescope, the space shuttle Atlantis has captured the probe and stowed it safely in its payload bay. Astronauts will begin the first of five full days of spacewalks on Thursday to refurbish the probe and extend its life until at least 2014 (Image: NASA)

As the captured telescope came into view of astronauts in the shuttle, lead spacewalker John Grunsfeld, who has visited the telescope on two previous shuttle missions, sent the first dispatch on the condition of the telescope to mission control: "I'm just looking out the window here, and it's an unbelievably beautiful sight. Amazingly, the exterior of Hubble, an old man of 19 years in space, still looks in fantastic shape."