----- Original Message ----- From: "John D. Giorgis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 6:33 PM Subject: Re: Suddenly Everyone Has an Opinion about Space
>>A myopic decision to abandon Hubble >>The announcement of Hubble's abandonment came just two days after >>Bush >>directed NASA to direct its efforts to manned space travel. NASA >>officials were quick to separate the two events, but the timing and >>circumstances of the announcements made it hard to dispute the notion >>that the Hubble is being been sacrificed on the altar of politics. . >>Closing mankind's best eye for peering into space is a terrible >>mistake." >>-- Editorial in The Virginian-Pilot [Article] >I'm curious what others on the List think about the abandonment of Hubble. >In my mind, it seems like the kind of hard, but necessary decision that our >space program so desperately needs. As I understand, Hubble's life >couldn't be extended forever. Moreover, the survival of Hubble is >inextricably linked to the space shuttle/deathtrap. Since we absolutely, >positively, have to dump the space shuttle - the loss of Hubble is an >unfortunate side effect. Hmmmm...... Since the shuttle seems to be a problem on landing or takeoff we could...............leave them in space. Add a shuttle mothball dock on a spar of the ISS. On each shuttles last mission, have one man pilot it up for docking, and leave it there as a service vehicle. You would only have to have it refueled and supplied for the missions it could be reconfigured to do. Scrape off those pesky tiles. Add some solar cells and extra fuel tanks. Strap on that ion engine. The shuttle could still be usefull even though it could never touch Earth again. Re-make it into a true *space*ship. Send what Hubble needs by other means, but use the shuttles to do the space transportation and support. The shuttle could be a crew life support system and pickup truck for several different kinds of Earth and Lunar orbital missions. You just need Apollo to get there. <G> xponent Forget Aerodynamics Maru rob _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
