Aquarius
03-11-2005, 11:59 AM
NASA Urged to Spend Funds on Hubble Fix
WASHINGTON (March 11) - Two congressmen urged NASA's acting administrator Wednesday to ensure that all of the $291 million appropriated to NASA in the Fiscal Year 2005 Omnibus Bill is spent on servicing the Hubble Space Telescope.
In a letter to Acting NASA Administrator Frederick Gregory, Reps. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., asked him not to eliminate the possibility of a manned repair mission.
"Significant progress has been made toward a robotic servicing mission for the Hubble, and we expect NASA to continue that progress, although not limiting the mission only to a robotic option," the letter states. They noted that they expect to see a design review and operating plan soon.
The Hubble Space Telescope is managed and operated by the Goddard Space Flight Center in Hoyer's district and Mollohan is the top Democrat on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Science, State, Justice, and Commerce.
While NASA has sent several repair missions, experts say another is needed because the batteries and gyroscopes probably will fail between mid-2007 and 2010. But after the 2003 crash of the space shuttle Columbia, a manned mission to repair Hubble has been in question.
03/10/05 10:28 EST
WASHINGTON (March 11) - Two congressmen urged NASA's acting administrator Wednesday to ensure that all of the $291 million appropriated to NASA in the Fiscal Year 2005 Omnibus Bill is spent on servicing the Hubble Space Telescope.
In a letter to Acting NASA Administrator Frederick Gregory, Reps. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., asked him not to eliminate the possibility of a manned repair mission.
"Significant progress has been made toward a robotic servicing mission for the Hubble, and we expect NASA to continue that progress, although not limiting the mission only to a robotic option," the letter states. They noted that they expect to see a design review and operating plan soon.
The Hubble Space Telescope is managed and operated by the Goddard Space Flight Center in Hoyer's district and Mollohan is the top Democrat on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Science, State, Justice, and Commerce.
While NASA has sent several repair missions, experts say another is needed because the batteries and gyroscopes probably will fail between mid-2007 and 2010. But after the 2003 crash of the space shuttle Columbia, a manned mission to repair Hubble has been in question.
03/10/05 10:28 EST