Op-Ed Reader Commentary on NASA/Hubble

http://nytimes.com/2004/03/21/opinion/L21NASA.html
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# March 21, 2004
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# Hubble Space Telescope
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# National Aeronautics and Space Administration
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# To the Editor:
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# In "Advancing Both Science and Safety" (Op-Ed, March 14), Sean O'Keefe,
# the NASA administrator, demonstrates how his agency's can-do attitude
# has decayed into a morass of low expectations.
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# Neil Armstrong walked on the moon only 30 months after a tragic accident
# claimed the lives of three astronauts on the launching pad and resulted
# in the suspension of Apollo test missions for more than a year.
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# Now Mr. O'Keefe tells us that with all of America's experience in
# spaceflight, NASA can't get around to visiting the Hubble telescope
# within four years of the Columbia space shuttle disaster.
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# That's half the time it took to develop a lunar landing mission from the
# ground up, starting with President John F. Kennedy's dramatic challenge
# to the nation.
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# Truly, this is not our fathers' NASA. The agency should recall its
# distinguished history and shoot for the stars again.
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# SETH ZUCKERMAN
# Seattle, March 14, 2004
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# To the Editor:
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# Pioneering is never safe, because it is never routine.
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# Sean O'Keefe, the NASA administrator, is concerned that "schedule
# pressure" to launch a space shuttle to repair the Hubble would
# compromise safety (Op-Ed, March 14). A Hubble mission would not be a
# case of discounting safety in favor of commercial pressure, but a race
# to save the most productive effort of the entire space program.
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# It is clear that the astronaut corps would not hesitate to assume the
# risk. Instead, the bureaucratic fear of a shuttle program failure is the
# main factor in NASA's reluctance to support a Hubble mission.
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# THOMAS WRIGHT
# Oak Park, Ill., March 14, 2004