FRIDAY SURPRISE: Our "Eye in the Sky" gets a reprieve!

NASA has made a decision to repair the aging Hubble Space Telescope.

I remember when the Hubble was launched in 1990. Once in orbit, NASA discovered a flaw in the main mirror. It was thought that the flaw would doom the Hubble to uselessness, but in '93 NASA sent a repair crew to restore the telescope to its planned quality. It worked, and the Hubble began to transmit the kind of startling images that everyone had hoped for.

Now the gyroscopes on the telescope have reached the end of their service life, and the only way to replace them is to send another manned mission. The only trouble is that NASA has a much better understanding of just how dangerous those missions are in the wake of the Columbia disaster, and they have been a bit reluctant to risk the lives of a crew - not to mention spending a healthy chunk of their operating budget - on such an expedition.

Last Tuesday, they finally reached a decision to repair the Hubble. This is great news for all science buffs, and serves as a chance for me to post one of the terrific images made by this marvel of American engineering. I give you the Crab Nebula, as only the Hubble Space Telescope can present it!



-=[ Grant ]=-

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