[TheDon]

"Dittemore said that even if the astronauts had gone out on an emergency spacewalk, there was no way a spacewalker could have safely checked under the wings, which bear the brunt of heat re-entry and have reinforced protection.

Even if they did find damage, there was nothing the crew could have done to fix it, he said.

``There's nothing that we can do about tile damage once we get to orbit,'' Dittemore said. ``We can't minimize the heating to the point that it would somehow not require a tile. So once you get to orbit, you're there and you have your tile insulation and that's all you have for protection on the way home from the extreme thermal heating during re-entry.''

The shuttle was not equipped with its 50-foot robot arm because it was not needed during this laboratory research mission, and so the astronauts did not have the option of using the arm's cameras to get a look at the damage.

NASA did not request help in trying to observe the damaged area with ground telescopes or satellites, in part because it did not believe the pictures would be useful, Dittemore.

Long-distance pictures did not help flight controllers when they wanted to see the tail of space shuttle Discovery during John Glenn's flight in 1998; the door for the drag-chute compartment had fallen off seconds after liftoff. "

I heard this part of the shuttle manager's answer to a question, and was chilled. He almost made it sound like they would send the crew to their deaths if they found the tiles damaged, so why bother looking at them.

If this played a part in the thinking, the shuttle program should be closed down permanently. That attitude is not what one would expect from the NASA "can do".

Either the people need to change that kind of thinking, or if it is valid, they need to provide solutions for this kind of problem.

It would seem a member of the crew could have been tethered and taken a look at the damage. If the call was made that it was unsafe, why not dock with the space station, and send down as many people as possible with the ISS rescue pod? Sure it leaves no failsafe for whoever is left behind, but it gives more chance for survival. Hopefully, those left of the ISS would have enough life support to last until another shuttle rescues them, or some other rockets are sent to take them home.

The ISS should have sufficient rescue pods for an entire shuttle crew, and the ISS crew.

[Swordmaker]

It would seem a member of the crew could have been tethered and taken a look at the damage. If the call was made that it was unsafe, why not dock with the space station, and send down as many people as possible with the ISS rescue pod? Sure it leaves no failsafe for whoever is left behind, but it gives more chance for survival. Hopefully, those left of the ISS would have enough life support to last until another shuttle rescues them, or some other rockets are sent to take them home.

Docking with the International Space Station was out of the question. There is not enough fuel in the Orbital Manuvering Units to change the orbit that much. Docking with the ISS requires a launch with that intent.

The ISS should have sufficient rescue pods for an entire shuttle crew, and the ISS crew.

They should have sufficient "life boat" capacity for the anticipated crew load including shift change... or they will suffer from the "Titanic Syndrone." Escape pods for the Shuttles was considered and rejected for reasons of cost and payload capacity: If they were included in the design, the system would not have worked.

[Centurion2000]

"Dittemore said that even if the astronauts had gone out on an emergency spacewalk, there was no way a spacewalker could have safely checked under the wings, which bear the brunt of heat re-entry and have reinforced protection.

That's a load of crap ... did they stop taking MMU (manned maneuvering units) for the spacesuits up with them ?

[djf]

I, too, was struck by the "we can't do anything about it, sowhy bother? attitude re: fixing tiles. Bet your bottom dollar, before another launch, they will have some contingencies for at least checking to see if there is tle damage. If they knew, they could have brought the crew down and left it in orbit. Fer cryin out loud, they practically rebuilt the HST.