[WOODPIE]

O'Keefe's decision to abanbon the Hubble was influenced by safety concerns with the shuttle fleet returning to service. The only missions planned, for the immediate future, are round-trips to the space station. If the future shuttle launches result in damage to the craft, crew members can hang out at the spacestation and wait to get rescued.

I can't fault O'Keefe's concern for safety; it is his name and face that will be forever tied to the images of scorched fragments flying through the Texas sky. Who wouldn't want a chance to improve on such a record? His plan to return the fleet to service, then, is akin to to the use of a prophylactic device. Staying on the launch pad would be like using three prophylactic devices, but that's not an option. Mr. O'Keefe seems a likable, personable guy, and at least in part due to those personal qualities, was given the option to fall on his sword, or return the shuttle fleet to a perceivable safe standard of operation. When and if he completes that mission, I would expect him to step down, and NASA might yet re-invest in the Hubble.

I like to ponder over what science tidbits I can understand when the astronomers and physicists try to explain it in laymen's terms. It seems for every answer, a hunderd more questions spring up.

Ed