BALTIMORE – NASA’s chief agreed Thursday to review his decision to cancel the Hubble Space Telescope’s final servicing mission and let it deteriorate and go out of operation. The decision comes after the space agency was bombarded by pleas to save the craft.
Adm. Hal Gehman, chairman of the board that investigated the Columbia shuttle breakup last year, will ”review the (Hubble) matter and offer his unique perspective,” NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe said in a letter to Sen. Barbara Mikulski, who released a copy of the letter.
O’Keefe had defended his decision earlier this month to cancel all space shuttle missions to the Hubble, which has revolutionized the study of astronomy with its striking images of the universe. He had cited the risk to the astronauts on a Hubble mission and President Bush’s plans to send humans to the moon, Mars and beyond as the reason for NASA’s change of focus.
The decision prompted letters from Mikulski and a joint letter from all members of Congress from Maryland, from where the orbiting platform is operated. Hubble’s fate has also become a cause for amateur and professional astronomers worldwide.
E-mails have poured in to the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which coordinates the use of Hubble’s instruments.
”It’s been overwhelming. My e-mail is overflowing,” said Steve Beckwith, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute.
”Every day, we’ve had offers of ideas, political support and even money. Every day, I get people who want to know how they can contribute to keeping Hubble alive.