Should we bring the Hubble Space Telescope back to Earth safely when it will be deactivated ?

I reckon we should strap it on the back of Halley's Comet next time it comes around. I always have wondered where that thing goes every 76 years.

That would be ridiculous. It would cost hundreds of billions if not into the trillions of dollars to bring Hubble back. For one thing we'd have to design, test, and build something to bring it back in. Even if we still had the space shuttles operational, which we don't, Hubble is right at the limit of what it would have been capable of bringing back from orbit safely. Even if we built some separate device just to haul it back in we'd still have to get people up there to put it in it. How? Pay for more room on Soyuz? Then even if we got it back what would we do with it? Stick it in a museum? No, that's an absolutely terrible idea. Why don't we just build a non-functioning replica of it to throw in a museum for a couple of hundred bucks?

No, because it would be tremendously expensive to do so. Even if the Space Shuttle were still in operation, it cost $450 million dollars per mission. I don't know about you, but there are far better ways to spend that kind of money than to retrieve an obsolete piece of hardware, regardless of the impact it has had on our awareness of the Universe. Hubble is in a pretty high orbit, though--reaching it with the Shuttle was difficult for that reason--so it won't be coming down anytime soon. Hell, it might someday be the prize exhibit in the museum on the first orbital habitat. No way do I see it coming back to the surface of Earth as anything but a meteor.

.

EDIT: And I mean no disrespect to Josh, but there's just no way to send it to Pluto. That's a pretty bizarre suggestion.

.

.

If it can be done reasonably cheaply, I think it's worth doing. Developing the ability to return a satellite from orbit to Earth's surface, intact, would create useful technological advances.

However I doubt it can be done reasonably cheaply before Hubble's orbit decays. With the retirement of the Shuttle, there's nothing current or planned I know of that could carry something as big as Hubble.

C'mon guys. Let's be real! The cost to bring her home is ridiculous. In terms of learning more about our glorious cosmos, Hubble has paid science back three-times over. We've discovered some amazing things with that awesome hunk of technology. But I do agree, at a time when we are beginning to break grounds reaching the REAL cosmic scheme of things, we might want to hold those funds for some very important projects, which might coin the cutting-edge for advanced intergalactic research. Furthermore, boosting her back into orbit, of course, would be quite expensive as well...a redub for Hubble which might not even be worth the effort.

This is technically impossible. The Hubble was placed in orbit by a shuttle and can only be removed from orbit by a shuttle, and there are no longer any operational shuttles. I'm not even sure it would be possible even with a shuttle, because of the weight of the Hubble. The shuttles were normally empty of cargo when landing; I doubt they could land safely with the weight of the Hubble on board.

The plan is to eventually have it eventually crash into the ocean. Much of it will burn up the mirror is another question as it is expected to survive re-entry. It will be a very large frisbee.

It basically can't be done. It's mass is too high and even the shuttle couldn't bring it back,

I'm glad you're volunteering to send YOUR money on this project to bring it back. You do have an extra $250 million dollars, don't you?

It cannot be brought back down - it cannot be refueled, it cannot stay up indefinitely. It will have to be de-orbited and crashed back.