Re: Hubble to be Repaired

On Wed, 01 Nov 2006 13:46:27 -0500, in a place far, far away, sal
<pragmatist@xxxxxxxxxx> made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such a
way as to indicate that:

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?

No, the "launch on need" mission is in case there's a problem with the
Hubble mission (as occurred with Columbia), and the crew need to be
rescued.
.

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