Saturday, Jan. 17 2004, was a sad day for science. NASA announced they will not send a scheduled servicing team to the Hubble Space Telescope, and instead will crash this great scientific instrument into the ocean in 2008.

Strapped for funding, and attempting to respond to Pres. Bush’s Jan. 15 message to NASA to redirect funds to support his manned Moon and Mars missions, NASA will not make the scheduled 2006 Shuttle to repair failing gyroscopes and batteries.

Instead, they will build a robot craft to latch onto the Hubble and guide it to a fiery death over an ocean.

The Hubble and the American people deserve much better. The Hubble is arguable the most important scientific instrument of the 20th century, and perhaps of all time.

Rather than spend money on an unproven “cosmic tug boat”, NASA should send the Space Shuttle to bring the Hubble safely home to earth.

This telescope deserves a final resting place in the Smithsonian, not a watery grave as a burned out cinder at the bottom of an ocean.

Join with me in e-mailing your senators and congressman. Express your desire to see the Hubble enshrined in the greatest museum of space and technology in the world.

Key government officials E-mail addresses
House Science Committee - science.committee@mail.house.gov
House Science Committee Minority Members - science.minority@mail.house.gov
Click here for a complete list of e-mail addresses of U.S. senators and congressmen.

NASA's Position
As of Jan. 20, NASA has not yet posted information about this shameful decision at their Web site. It fell to the contractor, the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), the manager of the Hubble’s scientific programs, to break the official word on their Web site.

Read a personal message from Steven Beckwith, Director, STScI. Also, read Beckwith’s Jan. 16th remarks to the Institute's staff, briefing them on the decision.

Thank you in advance for wanting to making a difference.

Jim DeLine
San Antonio, TX
deline_2000@yahoo.com
http://www.mindspring.com/