01-18-2004, 04:24 AM
I've been getting the feeling that the Hubble servicing mission was being sent further and further to the back-burner ever since Columbia went down. If you read the article, it points out the additional safety requirement of a backup shuttle for the servicing mission. This requirement was put in place before Shrub's vision thing got out. It looks to me like the "new priorities" are just an excuse to can a mission they were going to toss out anyway.
It's a damn shame, but not a surprise. We'll get the Webb up to replace it, in any case.
I do find it interesting that the remaining Shuttle flights are going to the ISS. I figured they'd drop that white elephant in the ocean toute-suite. It'll never do even the originally planned science with current crew limits. Maybe they think they'll come up with a decent-size crew return vehicle.
It's a damn shame, but not a surprise. We'll get the Webb up to replace it, in any case.
I do find it interesting that the remaining Shuttle flights are going to the ISS. I figured they'd drop that white elephant in the ocean toute-suite. It'll never do even the originally planned science with current crew limits. Maybe they think they'll come up with a decent-size crew return vehicle.