150-Precision & Design: Making Blankets for Hubble

Hubble with its second set of ESA-designed solar blankets. Hubble’s original solar wings were constructed by ESA. Thin and flexible in nature, they comprised two double roll-out solar array wings Each array stands on a 1.2-m mast that supports a retractable wing of solar panels 12.1-m long and 2.5-m wide in full extension, with buffer assemblies for interfacing the stowage drum and spreader bar tensioning the blankets.

NASA’s Thermal Blanket Lab is a vital part of ensuring that the important equipment that we send into space remains protected from getting either too hot or too cold. Paula Cain is one of the talented thermal blanket technicians who uses her skillful hands to correctly cover all sorts of spacefaring instruments.

Over a decade ago, when she was new to the job, she had a special project related to the Hubble Space Telescope and its fifth and final servicing mission.