Shuttle for Hubble - A New Hope

Bush-nominated NASA Administrator to-be Michael Griffin has told the Congress that he will reconsider predecessor and new LSU Chancellor Sean O'Keefe's decision not to dispatch a shuttle to save Hubble.

This is terrific news for astronomy, but I am convinced it is also the right decision from a budgetary perspective. Here's the rub: If a shuttle is not sent to Hubble, then NASA has to develop a robotic mission whose sole responsibility will be to attach a rocket to the satellite which can then be fired to enable a controlled re-entry - that is, a safe plunge into the Pacific without any nasty debris showers over the Outback. That's a multi hundred-million dollar price tag, folks, all for a mere suicide mission.

If we send a shuttle to Hubble, by contrast, we can have the astronauts attach the rocket as one part of their visit. And while they are there, they can replace the gyroscopes and batteries (10 years' more life) and - oh yes - install two new instruments, already built and waiting at Goddard, and totalling $300m in investment.