[Desdemona]

That would have given us almost a month to mount a rescue, if indeed the damage was the problem.

A month? None of the shuttles can stay up there that long without supplies and fuel. That's one. Two, it takes longer than a month to prep a rocket.

No. If the tiles were THAT badly damaged, outside of a full scale repair in space - for which the tiles would have had to be on board and Columbia was almost too heavy to begin with - NOTHING could have been done. Even aborting lift-off after it had started. Once it's up, all re-entry potential problems are still applicable.

[Mamzelle]

I said almost a month.

re: A month? None of the shuttles can stay up there that long without supplies and fuel. That's one. Two, it takes longer than a month to prep a rocket)))

The Russians launched one today.

The question that's most interesting to me right now...why no pictures?