You all know, of course, that NASA's decided to scrap the Hubble so that Bush II can have his ridiculous plan for the space station on the Moon and the manned flight to Mars. However, this AP story says:
NASA to Review Decision on Fate of Hubble.
Maryland's congressional delegation also sent a letter to O'Keefe on Tuesday urging him to reconsider.
'The scientific returns we have received from Hubble's service thus far have exceeded our expectations. ... We believe that NASA should make every possible effort to retain this proven window on the universe,' the letter said.
Without the servicing mission, which had been planned for 2006, the orbiting telescope is expected to stop working several years before its scheduled 2010 retirement."
Which means Hubble just might survive. The telescope has contributed so much to science. While the idea of a space station on the moon is SF-geek cool, I don't want to play spaceman if it means we lose the real, hard contributions to science of the Hubble. I've been furious since hearing of the Hubble's planned demise. It's good to read that other people have reacted as strongly as I have. There's even a website petition:
