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Senator Calls on NASA to Service Hubble
Space News ^ | 10 March 2005 | Brian Berger

Posted on 03/11/2005 8:17:20 AM PST by wingblade

Senator Calls on NASA to Service Hubble

By Brian Berger Space News Staff Writer posted: 10 March 2005 12:10 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON – In a sternly worded letter to acting NASA Administrator Frederick D. Gregory, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said she expects the U.S. space agency to heed the will of the Congress and keep preparations for a Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission on track.

Congress, in passing an omnibus spending bill late last year, directed NASA to set aside $291 million of its 2005 budget to spend planning and preparing for a servicing mission to Hubble by 2008. When NASA informed Congress just weeks later that it intended to spend only $175 million of that amount on the Hubble repair effort, some saw the move as an indication that the agency was preparing to abandon plans to service Hubble robotically and rely instead on a space shuttle crew to fix the telescope.

Many Hubble backers, including Mikulski, were shocked and angered when NASA announced in early February that it would not make any effort to service the telescope beyond attaching a propulsion module that can be used to drop Hubble into the ocean once it goes dark.

Mikulski, an influential member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told Gregory in her March 2 letter that Congress will consider this year including money in NASA’s 2006 budget for a Hubble servicing mission. In the meantime, she said, she expects NASA to spend every penny of the $291 million included in the 2005 budget for Hubble servicing.

“I expect NASA to carry out Congress’ intent and spend the entire amount appropriated this year so there will be no interruption in the planning, preparation and engineering work that will be necessary for a servicing mission to Hubble,” she wrote. “The funding that I included in the Omnibus Appropriations Act is to ensure that the workforce at Goddard, the Space Telescope Science Institute and their associated contractors remain fully engaged in all aspects of a servicing mission. Any attempt to cancel, terminate or suspend servicing activity would be a violation of the law unless it has the approval of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.”

Government agencies are required to seek permission from congressional appropriators before using money for purposes other than which it was originally approved. Although the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2005 gives NASA “unrestrained transfer authority” to move money between accounts, it also says that the authority should be used primarily to help the agency complete its transition to full-cost accounting.

NASA has not canceled contracts it awarded to Lockheed Martin and Canada’s MDA Robotics last year to help engineers at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., design a robotic servicing mission. NASA officials have said the agency intends to let that work continue at least until a preliminary design review planned this month.


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
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1 posted on 03/11/2005 8:17:22 AM PST by wingblade
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To: wingblade

Just use a dang shuttle and get it done.


2 posted on 03/11/2005 8:19:35 AM PST by RadioAstronomer
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To: RadioAstronomer

I think they are really afriad to use them again...

They are based on 1970's design


3 posted on 03/11/2005 8:24:37 AM PST by Mr. K (I plan put my "Run Hillary Run" bumper sticker on the front of my car)
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To: Mr. K

They are not afraid to send them to the ISS.

I wonder what ever happened to "boldly go".


4 posted on 03/11/2005 8:26:46 AM PST by RadioAstronomer
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To: Mr. K

Money.


5 posted on 03/11/2005 8:27:39 AM PST by battlecry
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To: Mr. K; RadioAstronomer
I think they are really afriad to use them again...

They are based on 1970's design

The Apollo capusules once the design flaws were debugged were safer than the shuttle. And they were a 1960's design.

6 posted on 03/11/2005 8:29:30 AM PST by Paleo Conservative (Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Andrew Heyward's got to go!)
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To: RadioAstronomer

Just fix the damn thing. It works just fine.


7 posted on 03/11/2005 8:30:51 AM PST by BobS
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To: RadioAstronomer

True, but the Enterprise wasn't held together with spit, bailing wire, and lowest bids. :P


8 posted on 03/11/2005 8:33:27 AM PST by Constantine XIII
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To: wingblade
I would not fly the shuttle a couple reasons when the solid boosters got framacated into segments from one piece,and second management there is less than desirable (Re Challenger) third parts for it come from Affirmative Action Infested manufacturing.
9 posted on 03/11/2005 8:39:05 AM PST by Fast1 (Destroy America buy Chinese goods.)
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To: Fast1

I'd get into a shuttle tomorrow if offered the opportunity, regardless of the dangers involved.


10 posted on 03/11/2005 8:41:19 AM PST by -YYZ-
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To: RadioAstronomer

Big BUMP to that!


11 posted on 03/11/2005 8:44:22 AM PST by jpsb
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To: wingblade
They need to suck it up and use the shuttle. Hubble needs to be saved!

Mike

12 posted on 03/11/2005 8:44:58 AM PST by MichaelP
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To: -YYZ-
I'd get into a shuttle tomorrow if offered the opportunity, regardless of the dangers involved.

So would I. :-)

13 posted on 03/11/2005 8:46:03 AM PST by RadioAstronomer
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To: Constantine XIII
True, but the Enterprise wasn't held together with spit, bailing wire, and lowest bids. :P

That depends what Enterprise you're talking about. You should also add affirmative action contracting to your list.

14 posted on 03/11/2005 8:48:50 AM PST by Paleo Conservative (Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Andrew Heyward's got to go!)
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To: wingblade
Just take all the spare parts, add a new lens and enclosure, and mount a new scope on the ISS.

Problem solved.

15 posted on 03/11/2005 8:49:46 AM PST by Cold Heat (This space is being paid not to do anything.)
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To: Fast1
"I would not fly the shuttle a couple reasons when the solid boosters got framacated into segments from one piece,and second management there is less than desirable (Re Challenger) third parts for it come from Affirmative Action Infested manufacturing."

Give me enough notice to get to the launchpad from Pennsylvania and I'll take your seat.
16 posted on 03/11/2005 8:53:42 AM PST by Ramcat (Thank You American Veterans)
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To: wingblade

EEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW!!!.....

17 posted on 03/11/2005 9:00:11 AM PST by Hatteras
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To: wingblade

if they closed down the Texas super colider over 200 million they can stop the Hubble. this is a joke that shows any government program designed for two years can lvie 40.


18 posted on 03/11/2005 9:08:04 AM PST by q_an_a
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To: Cold Heat
Just take all the spare parts, add a new lens and enclosure, and mount a new scope on the ISS.

Problem solved.

Not really. The ISS is in a much lower orbit that would cause a bigger problem of light pollution from the Earth. The Space Shuttle missions to the Hubble are the highest altitude missions ever undertaken by the Space Shuttle. Another thing is that if it were connected to the ISS, a telescope would have problems with vibrations that would interfere with pointing it steadily.

19 posted on 03/11/2005 9:09:08 AM PST by Paleo Conservative (Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Andrew Heyward's got to go!)
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To: Hatteras

Drat, beat me to it!

I was also going to mention I thought that was Senator Clinton's job... Is she the one trying to get NASA to take over?


20 posted on 03/11/2005 9:11:21 AM PST by newgeezer (When encryption is outlawed, rwei qtjske ud alsx zkjwejruc.)
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