On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 20:16:38 GMT, Sam Wormley
wrote:

National Science Academy Urges NASA to Launch Astronauts to Hubble
Ref: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=311613


CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Dec 8, 2004 -- NASA should use astronauts,
not a robot, to try a crucial life-prolonging mission to the acclaimed
Hubble Space Telescope one last time, a National Academy of Sciences
panel concluded Wednesday.

Using a robot would be highly uncertain, costly and could take too
long, the committee of scientists, engineers and astronauts said. But
NASA's chief has vowed that as long as he is in charge, he will not
risk astronauts just to keep the 14-year-old telescope beaming back
breathtaking snapshots of the cosmos for another five years.

As opposed to risking them on that TURKEY the ISS or to launch
communcation satellites for spy agencies or commercial concerns
or spending public money to make drug companies richer?
What the F--- is the mission of astronauts if not to promote and make
possible pure research? I thought when they turfed Goldin they'd
have put someone in charge who knew what should be done?
-Rich