The space shuttle Atlantis glided in to a perfect landing in California this morning, after a very successful 13-day mission to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. The shuttle was rerouted to California because of poor weather conditions in Florida.

Total distance traveled during the mission: 5.3 million miles.

Image credit: NASA TV

The astronauts are finished with their repairs of the Hubble Space Telescope, and now we can’t wait to see the images from the powerful new instruments they’ve installed. They’re doing tool inventory and cleanup before ending their final spacewalk; you can watch live at NASA TV.

The astronauts from shuttle Atlantis are working on the Hubble Space Telescope right now, entering the fourth hour of their spacewalk. You can watch live at NASA TV; as I write there’s a glorious view of the Earth with an astronaut silhouetted against it, as they pass over Africa at nearly 18,000 miles per hour.

Space shuttle Atlantis is about to latch onto the Hubble Space Telescope to begin its repair mission; here’s the live feed from NASA TV as Atlantis approaches the telescope:

[Live feed now disabled…]

UPDATE at 5/13/09 10:17:48 am:

It’s so cool to watch this live — the shuttle has successfully used its grappling hook to grab the HST, and the repair mission can now proceed.

A perfect launch this morning sent the space shuttle Atlantis into orbit, ready to begin an 11-day mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA TV is replaying the launch on their video channel.

The space shuttle Atlantis is on the launchpad and on schedule to launch at 2:01 pm EDT tomorrow (Monday), for its mission to perform extensive repairs and maintenance on the Hubble Space Telescope.

It’s been seven years since the Hubble was serviced, so there’s a lot to do; five spacewalks are planned. The last repair mission was supposed to take place in 2004, but was canceled after the Columbia disaster.

You’ll be able to watch the launch over the web (assuming everything goes according to plan) at NASA TV. Here’s the current view from their live feed:

Via NASA TV, here’s the live video feed for the launch of the space shuttle Discovery…

[Video feed removed…]

UPDATE at 3/15/09 5:00:20 pm:

A perfect launch! It’s on the way to the International Space Station.

The space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch at 7:43 pm Eastern; you can watch live over the web at NASA TV, where they’re currently showing the astronauts preparing to enter the spacecraft…

NASA has postponed the scheduled launch of the space shuttle Discovery until Sunday or Monday.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA has postponed the launch of space shuttle Discovery because of a gas leak. The leak of gaseous hydrogen occurred as the launch team was filling the external fuel tank for liftoff Wednesday night. The seven astronauts had yet to board the spaceship.

Discovery’s flight to the international space station is already a month late because of concern about hydrogen gas valves in the engine compartment. NASA officials say the leak occurred in plumbing outside of the shuttle and had nothing to do with those valves.

NASA TV is streaming live video of the Space Shuttle’s landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California, returning from a successful mission to the International Space Station.

Backdropped against Earth’s horizon and the blackness of space, Endeavour’s Canadian-built robot arm appears amidst elements of the International Space Station. Endeavour had been docked for almost two weeks during the STS-126 mission at the orbital outpost when this image was taken.

Image Credit: NASA

UPDATE at 11/30/08 1:52:30 pm:

A picture perfect landing, and the crew is safely home on Earth.