Veteran astronaut and University of Chicago alumnus John Grunsfeld will tell "Hubble's Story" at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, in the School of the Art Institute Ballroom, 112 S. Michigan Ave. The free event is open to the public.

Grunsfeld will share his experiences of working in orbit on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and the latest scientific results that the instruments he helped install are producing.

President Obama recently called Grunsfeld "The Hubble Repairman." Grunsfeld has flown on three Hubble Space Telescope missions. A veteran of five space shuttle missions since 1995, Grunsfeld, SM'84, PhD'88, has logged 58 days in orbit, during which he completed eight space walks totaling nearly 60 hours.

"The Hubble is now equipped with a full complement of working, state-of-the-art instruments and is much better than new," said Michael Turner, the Bruce and Diana Rauner Distinguished Service Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University.

Grunsfeld served as lead spacewalker in charge of spacewalking and Hubble Space Telescope activities in last May's space shuttle mission to upgrade HST with new cameras and instruments and make repairs. He also led spacewalking and HST servicing during the March 2002 mission to the telescope.

Last May's mission was HST's fifth and possibly final. During the course of 12 days in orbit, two teams of astronauts, including Grunsfeld, performed five space walks. In a salute to another UChicago alumnus, Grunsfeld also carried into space a memento from Hubble's days as an intercollegiate basketball player.

Hubble, SB,1910, PhD,1917, played forward on the Maroons' Big Ten champion basketball teams of 1907-08 and 1908-09.

Grunsfeld will return the basketball-the game ball from a 1909 victory over the University of Indiana-in a ceremony on Friday, Oct. 30 at UChicago's Gerald Ratner Athletic Center, home of Jay Berwanger's 1935 Heisman Trophy. During his visit he also will deliver the physics department's Zachariasen Lecture on Oct. 29.

Grunsfeld's Oct. 28 presentation is sponsored by the University of Chicago, the School of the Art Institute, and the Chicago Council on Science and Technology.

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