We can finally put a wrap on the STS-125 Hubble servicing mission with this morning's safe return of the Shuttle Atlantis and her crew in California, deterred from landing in Florida for three days straight by persistent bad weather.
I've been home for a few days but now the entire mission team can stand down and celebrate this most memorable mission. For all of us on the large team of people from government, industry, academia and international partners who worked on this mission, it is a time of celebration and gratitude for the opportunity to be part of this endeavour, with anticipation of the great scientific information and inspiring pictures to come from Hubble.
It is also a time of wondering what comes next, as this is the last servicing mission planned for the Hubble. Even from within, there is debate about the course NASA is taking. With new leadership nominated for NASA and a new commission undertaking a review of the human spaceflight program and its architecture, it can be hoped that the outcome will be a program robust enough to carry out our exploration goals, engage the commercial sector and retain the capabilities, including in-space servicing, that have been developed over the last few decades
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