Atlantis Launched To Repair Hubble
 Monday, May 11th, 2009  by Connie T.

Atlantis and Endeavour got prepped this morning for Atlantis' planned flight to the Hubble Space Telescope this week (Endeavour the backup/rescue shuttle in case Atlantis is damaged during launch or in flight). Atlantis took off at 2:01 pm today, and NASA.gov has a blog up about the trip. If successful, the repairs to Hubble should keep it functioning until somewhere between 2013 and 2021, when it will be replaced by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the new-fangled infrared version.

The servicing mission underway is the same that was canceled for safety reasons following the 2003 Columbia Space Shuttle disaster, when all seven crew members were killed.

In 2008, NASA's annual budget was $17.31 billion, and this year's $17.2 billion, with $18.7 billion proposed for 2010. These are the highest amounts in NASA's entire budget history. Now, I'm certainly no rocket scientist. But is this really the time to stretching our pockets on space exploration? And reparations to a shuttle whose replacement is being prepped as we speak? Is this frugal and prudent thinking on behalf of our tax dollars in this time of economic uncertainty? I have no doubt that there are endless experts that could out-talk me on the subject and put my novice to shame; however, that wouldn't change the fact that I pay federal tax dollars, and federal tax dollars fund these missions; when Congress passes the annual budget for NASA, or any budget for that matter, they are sworn to uphold the best interest of the people. While the working man is tightening his belt in fiscal sacrifice, Congress is writing inflated checks for us to build a new and improved rover to fly past Pluto in 2015. Hello? We are $11 trillion + dollars in debt. Could we postpone a few expenditures and make a teeny chink in the deficit any time soon?

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