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OK if NASA did try to make the astronauts aware of their pending demise and also us on Earth, what good would have came out of that. I cant even imagine the horror of having another Apollo 13 type event in which the outcome is death.

And for all you who think Nasa could have done something lets go through possible scenarios....:

And for all you who think Nasa could have done something lets go through possible scenarios....:

Of course NASA could have done something. The fact that it did nothing is tantamount to saying that the leadership of NASA are cold-blooded killers.

I have no doubt that this crew could have sustained life in orbit for up to 30 days until rescue, assuming efforts proceeded apace from the moment they entered orbit.

America does not deserve a manned program and NASA managers mays have thrown the live of seven exceptional individuals on the alter of Baal.

Imagine O.J.-type saturation coverage of the astronauts and the country emoting until they died from starvation, thirst or suffocation and thereafter. Bush being attacked while the astronauts suffocate on live TV worldwide.

Other possibilities included a Desert One-type rescue fiasco or an Apollo 13-type successful rescue. Given a total lack of preparation, equipment and training, a successful rescue would have been a long-shot but a political necessity.

YEAH BUT..what's the use of having a "space station" if it can't be used in an emergency? And I'm sure if enough scientist, and engineers put their brains to work, they could come up with a way to temporarily repair tile damage in space. And if a shuttle is "too heavy" to reach space station, it should be mothballed and maybe put in a space museum.

Possible scenarios for rescuing stranded shuttle crew:

We know that the shuttle could not have reached the ISS. But does the ISS escape soluz (sp) have enough fuel to reach the shuttle?
Russia just this weekend launched a resupply ship to the ISS. Could it have resupplied the stranded shuttle instead?
Everyone claims there is absolutely no way that Atlantis could have been ready in time. But much of the delay in a shuttle's schedule is because the cargo isn't checked yet or pending flight investigations. If the word came down "You must launch by XX date", could the crew have had an unloaded shuttle by then? If they knew that lives depended on it?
Even if absolutely nothing could be done other than reenter and hope for the best, NASA could at least have given the astronauts additional time with their loved ones, AND ditch the spacelab to make the shuttle at least a little lighter to reduce the heat load.

In short, this ostrich-in-the-sand mentality of "If the tiles are damaged, they are all dead, so why bother checking?" is unbecoming of NASA. The Apollo-XIII crew survived what was previously analyzed to be a certain death scenario, but it looks like this crew wasn't given that chance.

That should clear up a lot...a bunch of freepers sitting at their computers, figuring out what NASA should have done. Probablt at least one will say it was God's will because our country is straying from the faith, and another that it has to do with our govts stance on abortion.