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No Formal Risk Analysis of Hubble Rescue by NASA

Posted by Zonk on from the they-didn't-even-try dept.

Somegeek writes " SpaceDaily.com is running a story that NASA never performed a formal risk analysis of a shuttle mission to rescue the Hubble Space Telescope before they decided to cancel the mission on grounds of risk. The story quotes Fred Gregory, the current acting NASA administrator, as stating that previous NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe made the decision "based on what he perceived was the risk". This perceived risk is in performing a manned shuttle mission that is out of range of using the International Space Station as an emergency refuge. The Hubble's current batteries and gyroscopes will probably fail in a few years, leaving the dead telescope to crash back to earth around year 2020."

7 of 186 comments (clear)

  1. Well, then by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I guess it would be poetic justice if it fell down to Earth and landed on Fred Gregory.

    1. Re:Well, then by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Doh. I meant Sean O'Keefe.

    2. Re:Well, then by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I say we use it to take nude pictures of actresses sunbathing.

    3. Re:Well, then by cetialphav · · Score: 3, Funny

      I think the NSA already has satellites that do that. The photos are probably part of the President's daily briefing on National Security. They just need to make these photos available under the Freedom of Information Act.

      I've always said that I would be extremely disappointed in our nation's intelligence services if we did not have good nude photos of Natalie Portman and Britney Spears somewhere.

    4. Re:Well, then by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      "take nude pictures of actresses sunbathing"

      I assume you mean "take pictures of actresses sunbathing nude". Most pictures are nude, unless they're framed. (And even then, you can see almost everything! Photographs: Show that grain, baby! Paintings: Lift that pigment! Let's see some canvas! Oh, yeah!)

  2. Re:Enterprise money? by djplurvert · · Score: 2, Funny

    We should just beat up the enterprise fans with their lunchboxes and take their money.

  3. Re:I would just like to note. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    The problem many libertarians have with NASA is that they've completely destroyed the spaceflight market

    "Libertarian, n: Someone who believes the free market to be such a powerful and important force that it can overcome human selfishness itself, yet so weak it can't survive in the presence of some form of government."