Hubble Recant 

There was much made in the space news community about a letter drafted by former astronaut Walt Cunningham and cosigned by several others arguing that the Shuttle should be sent on the cancelled Hubble servicing mission. Recently, however, two of the astronauts who signed the letter, Tom Stafford and last man on the Moon Gene Cernan have retracted their support for the letter.
Cernan wrote: "I am now better informed, am a little wiser on the subject, and today am retracting my support as expressed in the subject letter. I believe we all realize the significance of both the scientific results of and public interest in the Hubble. I also believe that if there is a way either manned or robotically, the Hubble will continue to be a serviceable asset without comprising the shuttle's primary mission of space station completion."
Stafford wrote: "We all agree that the HST is a marvelous scientific instrument, and it is my hope that its operational lifetime can be extended. This can indeed be accomplished via an unmanned robotic mission instead of with a manned Space Shuttle.
It is not necessary to send humans when a robotic mission can extend the useful life of the HST. By advocating an unmanned robotic mission to the HST, NASA has not only embraced the CAIB recommendations, but has taken a step to preclude undue risk. As an added benefit, the demonstration of such robotic capabilities will be important as NASA implements the vision for space exploration."

:: :: 09:17 :: David :: [permalink] ::