Congressmen urge NASA to support Hubble repair

[struggle4progress]

by Natasha Brown
Staff Writer
March 11, 2005

U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Dist.5) of Mechanicsville and U. S. Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV), sent a letter March 9 to acting NASA Administrator Frederick Gregory to ensure that the full $291 million appropriated in fiscal 2005 is used to support a servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

The telescope is managed and operated by the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.

"Last year, I helped secure nearly $300 million in the Fiscal Year 2005 Omnibus Appropriations bill to support a servicing mission to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope," Hoyer said. "In the bill, the Congress noted that a successful servicing mission to Hubble should be one of NASA's highest priorities clearly indicating its commitment to preserving Hubble."

Hoyer’s effort to repair the space telescope is because it plays a unique role in broadening scientific understanding of the observable universe, he said. <snip>

http://www.gazette.net/200510/princegeorgescty/updates/264667-1.html


Senator Calls on NASA to Service Hubble
By Brian Berger
Space News Staff Writer
posted: 10 March 2005
12:10 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON – In a sternly worded letter to acting NASA Administrator Frederick D. Gregory, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said she expects the U.S. space agency to heed the will of the Congress and keep preparations for a Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission on track.

Congress, in passing an omnibus spending bill late last year, directed NASA to set aside $291 million of its 2005 budget to spend planning and preparing for a servicing mission to Hubble by 2008. When NASA informed Congress just weeks later that it intended to spend only $175 million of that amount on the Hubble repair effort, some saw the move as an indication that the agency was preparing to abandon plans to service Hubble robotically and rely instead on a space shuttle crew to fix the telescope.

Many Hubble backers, including Mikulski, were shocked and angered when NASA announced in early February that it would not make any effort to service the telescope beyond attaching a propulsion module that can be used to drop Hubble into the ocean once it goes dark. <snip>

http://www.space.com/news/hubble_mikulski_030510.html

[Amfortas]

1. Great !