It was worth the wait!  NASA has posted the first new images released by the Hubble ERO folks, following the refurbishment of the space telescope.  Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) had the honor of presiding at this long awaited unveiling.  With the help of Digsby, Twitter and NASA's award winning website, I was able to grab one of several wonderful images for your viewing pleasure.  The image above is called "Stephan's Quintet - Galactic wreckage."

STS-128 has completed its mission to the International Space Station, exchanging members of the ISS Expedition 20 team, and resupplying the space station.  With good weather in Florida, the crew will land early Thursday evening.

Supplemental links -- Hat tip to my regular contributor, Jon, for the links marked with a (#):

• "Astronauts pack Buzz Lightyear for ride home#," is from Yahoo! News (9/7/09).
• "Space Sights and Smells Surprise Rookie Astronauts#," is from Yahoo! News (9/5/09).

Links in boldface are important new elements to the NASA stories to be explored in a subsequent post.  The links indicate the Augustine Commission's recommendations to the Obama administration regarding the future of U.S. space flight, jeopardized by a lack of money.  I highly recommend the NPR article (below) as a first look at the panel's findings.  And here is the intro to the  Augustine Commission's Summary Report.  To quote:

Summary Report   A summary of the report from the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee was provided to the Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and NASA Administrator on Tuesday, September 8. The summary's text is consistent with presentations made during the committee's final public meeting on Aug. 12. The summary has been posted on this website for the public.

Transmittal Letter for Summary Report (pdf, 32K)

Download a copy of the Summary Report. (pdf, 152K)

For media questions regarding the Summary Report, contact Dr. Edward Crawley at MIT at 617-253-7510.

The full Final Report is still being prepared and will be released when complete. NASA is working with the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and other representatives of the Executive Office of the President to plan the next steps leading to a decision by the President about future U.S. human space flight policy."

Related articles:

• Panel Tells Obama Moon Return Is A No-Go (npr.org)
• New Look at a Colossal Cosmic Collision (space.com)
• Refurbishments Complete, Astronauts Let Go of Hubble (nytimes.com)