SPACE.com -- NASA Chief: Safety First In Hubble Decision

NASA's O'Keefe Stands Firm on Hubble Decision, But Agrees to New Study

U.S. Senators Demand Reviews of NASA Hubble Decision

'Back Room' Decision to Cancel Hubble Servicing Criticized

Hubble Finds Farthest Galaxies Strangest Yet


	NASA Chief: Safety First In Hubble Decision By Leonard David Senior Space Writer posted: 03:30 pm ET 14 March 2004

In an opinion piece in the Sunday March 14 New York Times, NASA Administrator Sean OKeefe reaffirmed his decision to scuttle the final shuttle mission to upgrade and repair the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope

In an opinion piece in the Sunday March 14 issue of the New York Times, NASA Administrator Sean OKeefe reaffirmed his decision to scuttle the final shuttle mission to upgrade and repair the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope.

That decision has been largely unwelcome news, not only in astronomy circles, but by the general public.

"In making my decision I had to balance the world-class science that the Hubble has produced, and will continue to produce, against the risks to the shuttle and its crew," OKeefe explains.

"The safety considerations tipped the scales," OKeefe adds in his opinion editorial titled: "Advancing Both Science and Safety".

The NASA Administrator states that he welcomes the decision last week by the prestigious National Academy of Sciences to review his conclusion.

Board recommendations

OKeefe said a shuttle flight to the Hubble would be the only trek by the space plane not directed to the International Space Station (ISS).

Use of the ISS as a safe haven for a crew in the event that a space shuttle suffered problems on launch and/or needed inspection to assure its flight worthiness is one of a long list of recommendations stemming from the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.

That board called for the "development of on-orbit inspection, repair and contingency rescue requirements for every shuttle flight. Those requirements bear on any decision to proceed with shuttle operations - especially on requirements for a maintenance mission to the Hubble," OKeefe notes in his New York Times piece.

Schedule pressure

While work is now underway for shuttle return to flight, OKeefe said it is unlikely that Hubble-unique procedures, technologies and tools would be ready by about 2007 -- a time frame when Hubble is expected to stop working.

Rushing forward on a Hubble servicing mission might not allow NASA to put all the required safety elements in place and certify they are ready for use.

"This is precisely the type of schedule pressure that the board quite correctly cited as undermining the future safe operation of the shuttle," OKeefe explains.

OKeefe states that "lost in all the discussion about Hubble" is even without any maintenance and repair flight to the telescope, the good news is that the observatory is expected to be productive for as much as three more years shooting past the planned 15 year life span of Hubble when it was lofted in April 1990.

Additionally, engineers are hard at work to keep Hubble going even if some of its batteries and gyroscopes fail. "It may also be possible to maintain the Hubble robotically," OKeefe writes.