"Hubble would not have produced all of the great science it has without the astronauts ability to service itits that simple," Beckwith said. "While the scientists may not have liked the manned space program at first, its the manned space program that has given us the ability to do things with Hubble that we now take for granted," he said.

Beckwith told SPACE.com that in the future, ever-larger optical telescopes in space are "must-do missions."

"Let me make a prediction," Beckwith said at the National Space Symposium here. "In 20 or 30 years, all astronomy will be done from space, maybe sooner. Space is definitely the place you want to be for an observatory. The only reason we dont do it all the time is because its expensive. But as it becomes more routine to go to space in another few decades, all astronomy will be done from space. Its the best place to be."

While ground-based astronomers are also making incredible strides, they face limitations handed them by Earths atmosphere, Beckwith said. "The best way to make up for the degradation of the Earths atmosphere is simply to get above it," he said.

Even radio astronomers are having problems, Beckwith said, due to increasing chatter created by a blossoming communications industry. "That eventually may drive the radio astronomers into outer space as well, just to get away from the human radio pollution," he said.