NASA planning a Hubble servicing mission in '08

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Gusset
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NASA planning a Hubble servicing mission in '08

Postby Gusset » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:34 pm

I am cautiously pleased and optimistic about this. This will extend the life of the telescope out to 2013+.

With all of the arguments that have gone on in recent years about retiring the shuttle fleet due to its (very) high cost of operation, this is the single biggest and most valid reason, IMHO, to have kept it going...Hubble has delivered a very good "bang for the buck". Currently, we have no other means to service the Hubble Telescope, and without a service mission it would likely fail in a couple of years.

There is a bit of elevated risk, though, since the HST is in an orbit that would prohibit a shuttle from reaching the ISS should it be damaged during launch. Apparently they will have a second shuttle ready for launch on a rescue mission should something go wrong.

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