The Mars Society emailed a statement Monday (not available on its web site) claiming that the number of cosponsors for H.Res. 550, a resolution calling for NASA to independently review its decision to cancel the last Hubble servicing mission, had risen to 13. However, the official list of cosponsors, as of midday Tuesday, remained at the same seven who originally cosponsored the resolution when it was introduced last week. The additional cosponsors, according to the society, include a few well-known members, including Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), a former physicist; and Ed Markey (D-MA), a veteran Congressman from the Boston suburbs. Another member of the Maryland delegation, Elijah Cummings (D-MD), has also signed on, as well as James Moran (D-VA), who represents some of the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington DC.
Zubrin, O’Keefe, Beckwith to Debate Hubble on CNN Tonight March 9, 2004 For further information about the Mars Society, visit our website at http://www.marssociety.org.
Mars Society President Dr. Robert Zubrin, Space Telescope Science Institute Director Dr. Steve Beckwith, and NASA Administrator Mr. Sean O’Keefe will discuss the Hubble Space Telescope on CNN tonight. At issue is Mr. O’Keefe’s controversial decision to desert the space telescope. Both Dr. Zubrin and Dr. Beckwith oppose Hubble abandonment.
The show will air twice, first within the Anderson Cooper newshour beginning at 7 PM EST, and then again during the Aaron Brown newshour which starts at 10 PM EST.
Actually, there was no “debate”. I watched the Anderson Cooper show and there was a couple minutes near the end about Hubble, with only a single (prerecorded) soundbite each from O’Keefe and Zubrin. (Beckwith’s comments appear to have ended up on the cutting room floor.) Not exactly a debate in my book!