Re: Hubble to be Repaired

On Tue, 31 Oct 2006 16:35:17 -0800, William Elliot wrote:

NASA Approves Mission and Names Crew for Return to Hubble

Oct. 31, 2006
RELEASE: 06-343

Shuttle astronauts will make one final house call to NASA's Hubble Space
Telescope as part of a mission to extend and improve the observatory's
capabilities through 2013.

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin announced plans for a fifth servicing
mission to Hubble Tuesday during a meeting with agency employees at NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Goddard is the agency center
responsible for managing Hubble.

"We have conducted a detailed analysis of the performance and procedures
necessary to carry out a successful Hubble repair mission over the course
of the last three shuttle missions. What we have learned has convinced us
that we are able to conduct a safe and effective servicing mission to
Hubble," Griffin said. "While there is an inherent risk in all spaceflight
activities, the desire to preserve a truly international asset like the
Hubble Space Telescope makes doing this mission the right course of
action."

The flight is tentatively targeted for launch during the spring to fall of
2008. Mission planners are working to determine the best location and
vehicle in the manifest to support the needs of Hubble while minimizing
impact to International Space Station assembly. The planners are
investigating the best way to support a launch on need mission for the
Hubble flight. The present option will keep Launch Pad 39-B at the Kennedy
Space Center, Fla., available for such a rescue flight should it be
necessary.

Let me see if I understand this.

2008 is two years away and bad stuff could start happening sooner. If the
Hubble loses its last gyro and starts tumbling before that, it is no
longer repairable. Right?

So is the "launch on need" mission discussed above intended for use if it
looks like the HST is failing faster than hoped? I.e., does this say
they're planning to do an emergency launch, say, in June 2007 if it looks
like the patient can't wait until the scheduled appointment? Or does it
just indicate that they still haven't really figured out how to slot the
final mission into the schedule?

It sounds to me like the former, which is presumably good news, at least
for those of us who don't believe in NASA plans for a new ST until we
actually see the thing on the launching pad.


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