[brooklin]

Columbia didn't have the docking equipment on board and the shuttle was to heavy with all the science experiment stuff on it to get up to the stations altitude. The only thing that might have saved these people was to abort before they reached orbit. But... who's going to make the call fast enough so that this craft could have landed in Spain or Madegascar.

[FReepaholic]

>>...the shuttle was to heavy with all the science experiment stuff ...<<

It's too heavy without it also.