Policy. NASA's street fighter takes on tangled space science program.

A delay would add millions to the cost of the mission, disrupt the intricate space shuttle schedule, and anger researchers eager to do science. But as the long-time program scientist of the Hubble Space Telescope effort, whose faulty mirror had to be corrected in space, Weiler knew that haste might have even more serious consequences. His instincts told him to wait. “I overruled three independent review teams” who recommended shipment, he recalls. “It just did not feel right to me.”