The aging Hubble Space Telescope - a path-breaking scientific instrument whose eye-catching images have won fans around the world - would die in orbit under the 2006 budget for Nasa proposed on Monday. The US space agency's total budget would rise 2.4 percent over 2005 to about $16.5 billion, but only $93 million would be spent on Hubble, with $75 million of that aimed at bringing the observatory down to Earth safely, Nasa's comptroller said.

While Nasa's budget is only a tiny slice of the overall $2.5 trillion requested for the entire government by the White House for fiscal 2006, it is likely to get close scrutiny in Congress and from the 15 nations that are partners with the United States in the International Space Station.

Copyright Reuters, 2005