Griffin drew applause when he reminded his audience that he reversed a decision by his predecessor not to send another space shuttle mission to service the Hubble telescope... [b]ut he cautioned that the final Hubble servicing mission, tentatively scheduled before the end of next year, will be launched only "if at all possible." And he said bluntly that there is no way from an engineering standpoint to mount a robotic servicing mission, as former Administrator Sean O'Keefe opted to do, that could do more than deorbit the telescope safely before it is expected to become uncontrollable.The Hubble can be relaunched using a Big Dumb Booster, but only brought back to Earth using the Shuttle (at this time). If it can be brought down, it should be refitted a bit, to make it easy to upgrade and repair in space suits and/or by robots, so that it need never be brought down again. The alternative is to build a big enclosure, launch that, deactivate the Hubble, bring the Hubble inside the enclosure, and shut the door. When possible, the repairs and upgrades can be done in a shirtsleeve environment in orbit, then the Hubble can be returned to service, and the repair station moved lower and out of the way.
Hubble is old tech and hardly worth the trouble. Instead of trying to keep the Space Shuttle, the ISS, and the Hubble flying another year, another decade, we should accept the situation and move on. New hardware is already in procurement and is far more capable than this junk. Any funds dropped on these white elephants merely slows development of the new generation.