Well a couple years ago w
hen I heard they were going to discontinue the Hubble space telescope program with nothing solid to replace it for a decade I was if not most upset, at least somewhat perturbed by the decision.Hubble has done so much for us in cosmic mapping to this date and enhanced our understanding of the universe around us from an almost child like ignorance to where we stand today. (somewhere between ignorance and pre-school knowledge).
So for me when I read this article this morning:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061031/ap_on_sc/shuttle_hubble_8
... to say the least I was thrilled and a small hole of sentimentality which had eroded into me felt like it was beginning to heal once more.
What is probably just as interesting from a new safety standpoint is the second shuttle being on standby should anything go wrong with the first while obtaining or being in orbit since the first will not be able to hook up with the international space station.
NASA always seems to learn from her mistakes which is more than can be said for alot of operations around the globe and even makes some great decisions every now and then.
I heartily look forward to watching the progress of this mission in early 2008.
Note to self: must teach Xy about formatting :D
ReplyDeletePS Thanks for updating the site for me when I am too busy :)
I remember seeing a special on hubble how they screwed it up and how little and basic the reason was that they screwed it up.
ReplyDeleteThen how they went and managed to make a incorrect lens to send up and slot in to correct the screw up.
Impressive stuff and nice to know they're going to try and keep the guy up and running.