When did I ever state that NASA faked anything?

There seems to be some very defensive remarks with regards to the Hubble Telescope needing repair.

I'm not in anyway discounting the great images that the Hubble has produced.

But the fact is the Hubble is not fully operational at this point, and without proper servicing, it will become a floating piece of metal. Not to mention the fact that this is after numerous Space Shuttle servicing missions and billions of dollars. Now we can all engage in a healthy debate about whether these costs are worth it or not, but what isn't debatable is the fact that:

- it still needs repair
- it has cost billions of dollars (... and counting)

Hmm. How many days' worth of Iraq war funds would be sufficient to fix the Hubble? 1? 1/2?

__________________
When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

Ummm, how does this tie into Iraq?

Last time I checked, NASA wasn't affiliated with any political party (not to mention the fact that Hubble is a joint venture with the European Space Agency).

The point is that we have PLENTY of money to throw around. I know that the Hubble isn't related to Iraq, but given the near $200M we're spending just on Iraq daily, we can afford to fix the Hubble.

__________________
When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

We do? We are accumulating PLENTY of government debt, that i'll agree with...

...by that logic, does it follow that the US government should give every citizen a free iPod and a year's supply of Starbucks since we are spending millions of dollars a day on Iraq anyway?

Starbucks? Why force that crap on us?

__________________
When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

Cruel and unusual punishment, I agree.

What string? Are you suggesting that NASA would not use digital imaging to fake photos?

Faulty logic, I agree. I think the association between Hubble maintenance and the Iraq war may have arisen due to two small words you used: "worth it"

Research related to this haz.-enviroment is very important.
Not only because spaceborn scientific research gives new information, but also because we Terrans might actully need the available information in about 100-200 years.
In case people belive I am just plain nuts, remeber that magnetic polar navals are due to shift. That means that magnetic shield will disappear for a long time. Solar wind and paricles will hit earths surface in full force. It lasts there about hundred years. We might need big high-tec greenhouses and domes.

..just a thought.

Well, not to belabor the point to death, but what I actually wrote was:

note: my main point was NOT to get into a side debate about whether the Hubble is/was "worth it" or not, BUT merely to point out the simple fact that after billions of dollars, its still needs repair... people may make their own conclusions from that reality.

This looks like an old, space Lego set I have .. can I borrow the photo when I sell it on Ebay?

__________________
"I miss the days when they made toys that could kill a kid."
- Jerry Seinfeld

I agree that there should be no debate that the Hubble telescope was worth it, because it has already (even in a state of somewhat disrepair) given us so much knowledge it is priceless. It has helped advance science in many, many ways.

I do see the point of how it looks like we can never do anything else if can't even get a telescope working. But don't forget Mir either. That has lasted a hell of a long time and we learned a lot from it as well. So, sure, the problems are obvious and glaring, but if you think of the Hubble and Mir as sort of baby steps towards progress, I think you may be able to get a bit more comfortable with the idea of colonizing the moon, Mars, and beyond.

Thank you. Someone who fully understood the point I was trying to make.

My point was NOT to belittle the contributions that the Hubble telescope has provided, merely that talk of Moon colonizations, etc. are a little too footloose and fancy-free (if you will) particularly in the face of the enormous hurdles we have faced in just getting a telescope operational. nothing less, nothing more.

Yeah, and we're just talking about limitations that we know of! Who knows what other hurdles we'd have to overcome to actually have people live on the moon? For example, experiments on Mir have shown that humans get depressed and start going crazy without being on earth. Having plants to tend to gave the cosmonauhts a little piece of home to care for, and helped with their mental well beings. Muscle loss, bone density loss, etc. are also huge problems to consider. And there may be long-term health problems that we don't know about yet. It's a hugely complex issue that goes far beyond money.