Hubble Receives Congressional Support

The Space Telescope Science Institute, suspected source of the leaked NASA documents, is located in the district of powerful U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), who said she was “shocked and surprised” by NASA’s Jan. 16 decision to terminate what would have been the fifth and final Hubble servicing mission.

In a Jan. 21 letter to NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe, Mikulski, the ranking minority member of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees NASA’s budget, asked the space agency chief to reconsider his decision. Mikulski also asked O’Keefe to appoint an independent panel of outside experts to assess all the ins and outs of conducting another space shuttle mission to Hubble.

“Hubble has become the most successful NASA program since Apollo,” Mikulski wrote. “It cannot be terminated prematurely with the stroke of a pen without a thorough and rigorous review while planning, preparation and training activities continue.”

In response to Sen. Mikulski’s letter, NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe has asked retired U.S. Navy Adm. Harold Gehman, the chairman of the now disbanded Columbia Accident Investigation Board, to take a second look at NASA’s decision to curtail the use of the space shuttle for any further servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope. The two have spoken about the matter several times since then, according to O’Keefe, and the decision to ask Gehman to weigh in was made out of respect for the senator.

O’Keefe said he did not set a deadline for Gehman to report back, but that he would “expect a pretty expeditious answer.” He also said that he has not reversed orders that the Hubble team wind down preparations for the servicing mission and transfer personnel to other activities.