[mewzilla]

If they suspected the damage, could they have done something? Probably not," a source said. "But you never want to say there was nothing that could have been done, because you never know what 1,000 people all working on one problem might come up with."

Yeah, heaven forfend they might be honest with the astronauts about what they might face coming home...

[eno_]

Aactually NASA has officially contradicted the "nothing could be done" line already: They claimed to be able to rush another shuttle to launch.

Another real possibility was the Soyuz that was ready to go to the ISS.