NASA has canceled all space shuttle flights to service the Hubble Space Telescope, which has provided revolutionary astronomy data and photographs. The decision was influenced by President Bush’s new space initiative, which called for the space shuttle to be retired by 2010. Without a servicing mission, Hubble will continue to degrade over time, lasting at least until 2007 or 2008. When it finally does stop functioning, NASA will launch a robot thruster to de-orbit the school bus-sized observatory safely.
Space and astronomy news