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Article: Hubble's future in space unclear.
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- July 31, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Faye Flam
PHILADELPHIA _ The Hubble Space Telescope, which has opened new vistas on the universe, was supposed to keep working until 2010, when astronauts would go up in the space shuttle and bring it carefully back down to Earth.
But plans have changed since the crash of the shuttle Columbia on Feb. 1.
Now, NASA is considering an earlier and more unseemly demise for the orbiting telescope, possibly forcing it to crash into the ocean before the end of the decade.
And the next space telescope is already being designed, with capabilities to see well beyond Hubble's range.
The fate of the current telescope and the ...