Hubble's Supporters Put NASA on the Defensive.

The campaign to save the Hubble Space Telescope has intensified, when backers leaked two internal memos challenging the decision made by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to cancel a scheduled repair mission out of concern for the astronauts who would service the orbiting telescope. NASA chief Sean O'Keefe has stunned many astronomers with the decision to cancel the last telescope servicing mission, which was due to launch between 2006 and 2008. In the wake of the Columbia disaster, O'Keefe said that it didn't make sense to risk a mission that might extend the 14-year-old Hubble's life past 2007, although he admitted it was a difficult call.