Hubble grumble.

The cover type "Farewell to Hubble?" ("End of the Line for Hubble?" SN: 7/24/04, p. 56) makes me wonder why we haven't seen the headline "Farewell to the Current NASA Administrator?" The only reason I have heard for the cancellation of the planned servicing mission is "it's too dangerous." Almost anything worth accomplishing has some degree of danger associated with it. The administrator is just standing in the way of progress and scientific discovery for reasons that don't seem to be very well founded.

RICHARD DILS, AVON LAKE, OHIO 

If we can build cars with robots and operate a machine on Mars, surely we can repair a telescope a few miles straight up. With a lead time of up to 10 years, if Hubble's orbit is stable and its equipment doesn't deteriorate, a package could be designed and rehearsed to do the job.

RUSSELL BURTON, ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA

Those lamenting the loss of the Hubble telescope are missing an important part of today's business climate: outsourcing. We could ask the Russians, or maybe the Chinese, to bid on sending a team to repair the Hubble.

We have sonic $300 million worth of parts, but without a delivery system, that is so much scrap.

JIM GARRITY, MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.