Jul 13 2004
From The Space Library
The National Research Council (NRC) issued a report calling for NASA to send a Space Shuttle mission to service the HST. The report challenged Administrator Sean O’Keefe's earlier decision that NASA would not conduct a Shuttle servicing mission for the HST because of potential safety risks. According to the NRC report, if NASA did not service the orbiting telescope, it would eventually become dysfunctional and fall out of orbit. Although the report acknowledged that a Shuttle mission would pose some risks for astronauts, the NRC stated that the scientific value of continuing HST operations merited a mission, both to maintain the orbiting telescope and to upgrade its components. The report recommended that NASA should consider sending a robotic servicing mission for the HST instead of a Shuttle mission, but should not rule out sending a Shuttle servicing mission, if NASA determined that the robotic option was too costly or complex. (Guy Gugliotta, “Scientists Say Shuttle Can Service Telescope; Report Counters NASA Stance on Repairing Hubble,” Washington Post, 14 July 2004; Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board and Space Studies Board, “Assessment of Options for Extending the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope” (letter report, National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 13 July 2004), http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11051#toc (accessed 28 April 2009).
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