US astronauts aboard the shuttle Atlantis released the Hubble Space Telescope on Tuesday, after the US space agency's final mission to repair and upgrade the orbiting observatory. Astronauts released the telescope at 1257 GMT, sending Hubble "back on its own for the final time," said Kyle Herring, mission commentator.
The 19-year-old observatory spent six days in the shuttle's cargo bay undergoing a final overhaul conducted over five daily spacewalks. At release the space telescope was orbiting at an altitude of 560 kilometers (350 miles) over Africa. This marked NASA's last mission to the ageing but beloved Hubble, whose spectacular images have helped broaden humankind's understanding of the universe as it peers ever deeper into the cosmos.