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NASA to Fix Hubble by Remote Control

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The U.S. space agency NASA says it plans to fix the Hubble Space Telescope by remote control this week.

The Hubble stopped beaming information to Earth about two weeks ago, when a data unit on the telescope completely failed.

Scientists Tuesday said they will bypass the failed unit and switch to a back-up system to restart the flow of information.

NASA officials say scientists will carry out the switch beginning Wednesday from the Hubble's operations center in the northeastern U.S. state of Maryland.

The agency says if all goes as planned, the Hubble Space Telescope should be transmitting information again by Friday.

The computer glitch forced NASA to postpone a shuttle mission this month to repair the Hubble.

That shuttle mission has been postponed until next year.

The Hubble has been orbiting about 600 kilometers above the Earth since 1990.

The telescope sends images from space back to Earth and has revolutionized scientists' understanding of the universe.

Some information for this report was provided by AP.

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