Hubble Repair Mission Delayed

The space shuttle mission set to launch next week, the last repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, will be delayed, perhaps until next spring.

The problem causing the delay is not anything to do with the shuttle. A component of Hubble's communications system recently failed. NASA has a replacement, but it's been stored away for 18 years. Though NASA thinks the replacement will work, testing it to be sure will take months.

If this had to happem, the timing was fortuitous. Had it happened even two weeks later, after the repair missiom had come and gone, NASA would've been left in an extremely tough spot. As it is, the agency has a chance to look at the remaining years of Hubble and make a programmatic decision concerning whether the value of another repair mission is really worth the risk to a crew.