That's pathetic govt. employee ass-covering. How about:
leave shuttle in orbit, send second shuttle to fix first then reenter both
send astronauts to space station for pickup by second shuttle
effect ad-hoc repairs via a spacewalk (they carry some tiles one assumes)
We managed to get the Apollo mission home, in part because we tried. This "nothing could have been done" refrain is PATHETIC.
send astronauts to space station for pickup by second shuttle
effect ad-hoc repairs via a spacewalk (they carry some tiles one assumes
Please educate yourself about the realistic options available and then tell us what could've been done.
(What's pathetic is the number of people who are complaining without even knowing the basic facts.)
leave shuttle in orbit, send second shuttle to fix first then reenter both
THEY ONLY HAD ENOUGH OXYGEN UNTIL WEDNESDAY. IT TAKES AT LEAST A WEEK TO GET A SHUTTLE READY, AND THAT IS IF THEY SCRAP ALL SAFETY.
send astronauts to space station for pickup by second shuttle
THEY COULDN'T GET TO THE SPACE STATION, NOT ENOUGH FUEL. IF THEY HAD GOTTEN THERE, THEY HAD NO WAY TO DOCK. THEY HAD NO TETHERS FOR A SPACE WALK.
effect ad-hoc repairs via a spacewalk (they carry some tiles one assumes)
THEY DO NOT CARRY TILES. EACH TILE HAS TO BE INDIVIDUALLY FITTED. THEY HAD NO MEANS TO DO A SPACE WALK, AND THERE WAS NO TETHER OR HANDLES OUTSIDE.
I am sorry to shout, but every single one of your suggestions has been discussed in this thread, and you are obviously not paying attention. I am certain that we all wish there had been a way to effect a rescue, but wishing doesn't make it so.
Are you really that ignorant? Have you avoided reading anything on this thread prior to posting? It would have taken weeks or months to launch another shuttle if safety was set aside. The Columbia had life support good till Wednesday.
They couldnt have gone to the Internation Space Station because they didnt have the fuel. If they got there, they couldnt dock because they didnt have a docking collar and they didnt have a teether to allow them to do a space walk.
They dont carry any tiles. Why would they? They cant put them on in space and they have to be cut to very fine tolerances or otherwise they will burn off during re-entry. Sound familiar. An additional reason they dont have any tiles is because they were already overloaded with science experiments and couldnt carry any excess weight which the tiles would certainly be since they had to no way to go outside and glue them on. THINK