spacetoday.net: NASA to announce Hubble servicing decision Tuesday

Posted: Sun, Oct 29, 2006, 12:04 PM ET (1704 GMT)
Hubble Space Telescope (NASA)

NASA will announced its decision regarding whether to send a shuttle to service the aging Hubble Space Telescope on Tuesday, the space agency said Friday, even as indications grew that NASA had approved such a mission. The space agency said in a statement Friday that it will announce its decision Tuesday morning at the Goddard Space Flight Center; the release also included details about briefings later that day with astronauts who would carry out the mission if NASA decided to undertake it. NASA administrator Michael Griffin reportedly met with agency officials earlier Friday to make a decision on the mission. Griffin has indicated on a number of previous occasions that he would like to reinstate the mission, which was canceled in 2004 by then-administrator Sean O'Keefe because of shuttle safety concerns, provided the mission wasn't significantly riskier than shuttle missions to the International Space Station. According to some reports, Griffin has indeed decided to approve such a shuttle mission, likely to be designated STS-125, which could launch as soon as late 2007.