Cape Canaveral, Fla. ? Space shuttle Columbia’s astronauts latched onto the Hubble Space Telescope on Sunday and watched in relief as its 40-foot-long solar wings neatly rolled up like window shades.

The crew will replace the electricity-producing wings with a smaller yet stronger pair beginning today with the first of five demanding spacewalks to enhance Hubble.

NASA was unsure whether Hubble’s solar panels would retract properly, given eight years of harsh space exposure. The astronauts were prepared to toss them overboard if they got stuck.

Astronaut John Grunsfeld, the chief telescope repairman, was thrilled to encounter Hubble again. “It’s great to see an old friend,” said the spaceman, who was on the last servicing mission in 1999.

Astronaut Nancy Currie plucked the 24,500-pound, 43-foot observatory from orbit, using Columbia’s robot arm. She moved in slowly for the grab as the spacecraft flew 350 miles above the Pacific at 17,500 mph.

One hour later, Hubble was locked down in Columbia’s payload bay. The telescope resembled a towering, shimmering, two-tiered wedding cake.

The focus of today’s spacewalk, by Grunsfeld and Richard Linnehan, was the replacement of one solar wing. The other wing will be replaced during Tuesday’s excursion by two other astronauts.