From: "Gary Wiltshire" 

On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 18:38:51 -0500, Steve Ewing  wrote:

> On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 22:15:02 -0500, Geo  wrote:
>
>> If we had the money I'd say lets do both but with a half trillion
>> deficit I just know that manned mars is going to all but kill programs
>> like hubble and probes. It's such a waste of our limited resources to
>> do this now.
>
> Funny you should mention that...
>
> http://www.space.com/news/hubble_budget_050121.html
> =====
> White House Cuts Hubble Servicing Mission from 2006 Budget Request
> By Brian Berger
> Space News Staff Writer
> posted: 21 January 2005
> 01:49 pm ET
>
> WASHINGTON ƒ “ The White House has eliminated funding for a mission to
> service the Hubble Space Telescope from its 2006 budget request and
> directed NASA to focus solely on de-orbiting the popular spacecraft at
> the end of its life, according to government and industry sources.
> [...]
> Sources said Oƒ ™Keefe received his marching orders on Hubble Jan. 13
> during a meeting with White House officials to finalize the agencyƒ ™s
> 2006 budget request. With both robotic and shuttle-based servicing
> options expected to cost well in excess of $1 billion, sources said,
> NASA was told it simply could not afford to save Hubble given everything
> else NASA has on its agenda, including preparing the shuttle fleet to
> fly again...
> =====

They shouldn't be using the shuttle to repair or even launch the damned
thing.  Telescopes should be disposable and launched by disposable
missiles.

--
Gary Wiltshire

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