Space shuttle astronauts including Scott Altman, Duane Carey, John Grunsfeld and Nancy Currie, top photo, recently visited the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute to discuss a new Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission scheduled for late this year.

The astronauts are part of a seven-member crew that will perform maintenance work on Hubble and install a new instrument, the Advanced Camera for Surveys, that will increase Hubble's capabilities. Hopkins, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Ball Aerospace & Technology Corporation and the Space Telescope Science Institute are collaborating to build the ACS. Holland Ford, a Hopkins professor of physics and astronomy, is the lead scientist and principal investigator for the ACS project.

The entire shuttle crew, which also includes James Newman, Richard Linnehan and Michael Massimino, is pictured below with Space Telescope Science Institute staff.

Altman is mission commander; Carey, pilot; and Grunsfeld, payload commander. Currie, Newman, Linnehan and Massimino are mission specialists.