I suspect a lot will depend on who is in the Whitehouse after the election.

I'd be amazed if they could not actually find the people willing to crew the
mission, I guess it really depends on the availability of a Shuttle and the
cost commitment involved, not any eye on safety.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
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"Scott M. Kozel" wrote in message
...
|
http://www.sunspot.net/news/health/b...ory?coll=bal-l
ocal-headlines
|
| "NASA urged to reconsider Hubble decision"
| The Associated Press
| January 28, 2004
|
| Maryland's congressional delegation sent a letter to NASA administrator
| Sean O'Keefe urging him to reconsider the space agency's recent decision
| to cancel the final servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope.
|
| "The scientific returns we have received from Hubble's service thus far
| have exceeded our expectations. Given the President's recent
| pronouncement of a vision to rededicate the Nation's commitment to space
| exploration, we believe that NASA should make every possible effort to
| retain this proven window on the universe," reads the letter, which was
| sent Tuesday and made available to The Associated Press on Wednesday.
|
| Earlier this month, NASA announced it won't send the space shuttle in
| 2006 to service the orbiting telescope, a mission needed to enable it to
| keep operating. Without the servicing mission the orbiting telescope is
| expected to stop working several years before its scheduled 2010
| retirement.
|
| Hubble's scientific operations are conducted at the Space Telescope
| Science Institute, located at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The
| telescope is managed and operated by the Goddard Space Flight Center in
| Greenbelt.
|
| After NASA's decision was announced, Mikulski, the ranking minority
| member of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees NASA's
| budget, sent a letter to O'Keefe last week, asking him to reconsider the
| decision.
|
| The Baltimore Democrat said she was shocked by the decision given the
| extraordinary contributions to science by the Hubble, which has
| revolutionized the study of astronomy with its striking images of the
| universe. Mikulski is also scheduled to meet with employees of the Space
| Telescope Science Institute on Friday.
|
| The lawmakers noted the next generation space telescope, the James Webb
| Telescope, is not scheduled to be launched until 2010, several years
| after the Hubble is now expected to stop working.
|
| "The gap created between the operation of these two telescopes will rob
| scientists of several years of invaluable data," the letter reads.
|
| The lawmakers also noted about $200 million has already been spent on
| two new instruments that were to be brought to the Hubble by the space
| shuttle, and it may cost more than $300 million for a mission to return
| the Hubble safely to earth.
|
| "In light of these costs, which total approximately a half-billion
| dollars, as well as the several decades of funding already devoted to
| Hubble, a decision to cancel the Hubble program several years shy of its
| goal appears to make little economic sense," the letter reads.
|
| In addition to Mikulski, the letter was signed by Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes
| and Representatives Steny Hoyer, Ben Cardin, Wayne Gilchrest, Roscoe
| Bartlett, Albert Wynn, Elijah Cummings, C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger and
| Chris Van Hollen.
|
| [end of article]
|
| --
| Scott M. Kozel Highway and Transportation History Websites
| Virginia/Maryland/Washington, D.C. http://www.roadstothefuture.com
| Philadelphia and Delaware Valley http://www.pennways.com


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