Nation Briefly

Astronauts install gyroscopes at Hubble

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) " Spacewalking astronauts had to put a refurbished pair of gyroscopes into the Hubble Space Telescope after a brand new set refused to go in Friday, but scientists were satisfied nonetheless and confident the observatory would point precisely to ever more distant objects in the cosmos.

Replacing the gyroscopes was the top priority of the repair mission, and the struggle had NASA on edge for two hours.

Thanks to the spacewalkers' effort, Hubble ended up with four brand new gyroscopes and two refurbished ones that were original 19-year-old telescope parts, said to be almost as good as the new ones. The telescope also got fresh batteries.

It was the second spacewalk in as many days for the Atlantis astronauts, who once again were bedeviled by problems.

CIA head defends agency against Speaker Pelosi

WASHINGTON (AP) " The head of the CIA defended the agency Friday against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's charge that she was misled in 2002 about the use of waterboarding, but he said it ultimately is up to Congress to decide where the truth lies.

"Let me be clear. It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress," CIA Director Leon Panetta wrote in a message to agency employees that was released to the public. "That is against our laws and our values."

Referring to Pelosi's remarks, he said, "The political debate over interrogation reached a new decibel level yesterday."

Panetta's rebuttal was far more muted than a counterattack the Republicans unleashed against Pelosi.

"I think her accusations against our terror-fighters are irresponsible and, according to the CIA's record, Speaker Pelosi was briefed on what had been done," said Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri, the senior Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. "It's outrageous that a member of Congress would call our terror-fighters liars."