to quote Bender: "darn universe!"

As if this time of year wasn't difficult enough for space enthusiasts, what with the anniversaries of the Apollo I fire that took place January 27th, 1967, the Challenger explosion which occurred January 28th, 1986, and the Columbia breaking up during re-entry on February 1st of 2003, more bad news came out today.

The Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope is out of order, and is not expected to be able to be returned to any better than about one-third of its previous capabilities. There is a mission planned to service the telescope in 2008, but with our ageing shuttle fleet that is anything but guaranteed, so the ACS may never function again.

If you don't know what the Advanced Camera for Surveys is by name, you know it by reputation. It is the camera system (one of several different types of cameras on board) that is responsible for all of the incredible space photographs that many of you have probably used for screensavers before.


We can't bring those seventeen brave astronauts back, but we can fix the Advanced Camera for Surveys. Contact your congressional representatives and urge them to increase funding for NASA to fix this incredible resource for exploring and learning about the universe in which we live.