NASA's Departing Chief Defends Hubble Decision

[MindLikeAParachute]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NASA's departing chief, Sean O'Keefe, on Friday defended his decision to pursue a robotic repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, days after a panel of scientists said a shuttle mission would be better.
...
However, he said he had "no reticence or regrets" about his pursuit of a robotic solution. Design reviews for the robot repair mission in March and August will provide useful data, he said, "rather than guessing."
...
O'Keefe discounted a National Academy of Sciences assessment last week that a robotic mission was unlikely to accomplish the needed tasks, and that a human mission -- the fifth to Hubble -- would do a superior job.

He said those who doubt that a robotic repair can work are like the critics who questioned whether Hubble would ever offer usable scientific data, due to a flawed main mirror on the telescope. The mirror was fixed by shuttle astronauts in 1993.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=7128307

[w4rma]

1. Looks like the Hubble is going to be toast, too. (nt)

[rodeodance]

2. I want Hubble to go and go and go .where no man [sic] has gone before!

[Khephra]

3. Hubble is truly one of the scientific wonders of the age

And the Bush administration is just pissing it away.

[billbuckhead]

4. Using Hubble effectively might interfere with creationism