Re: "servicing the HST is no longer viable"...
Even the first HST servicing mission (to correct the wonky mirror) was probably a bad idea. That mission (and every servicing mission since) has cost more than it would have cost to build a HST Mk2/3/4/5 and launch it into orbit. The first mission was a face saving exercise by the Merkins - We launched it, and it IS going to work.
Each servicing mission since then was along the lines of - Look what we can do that you can't. If common sense had had a look in then bigger, better, badder versions of the HST would have been lofted every 5-6 years, and at times there would have been three of them up there all running at the same time. And with the hardware on each upgraded from the previous one.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
