[1Old Pro]

I don't know much about this. But if they aren't going to burn fuel on re-entry wouldn't that be enough to get them to the station? And the only reason I suggested the station is because they usually have a escape Soyuz attached and/or they could probably hang out longer at the station than in the shuttle as they wait for another launch.

[krb]

It doesn't take a lot of gas to re-enter anyway. You burn a few hundred pounds of hydrazine out of little nozzles all over the orbiter to orient it correctly, then you glide in, using the stored potential energy (remember mass x height x gravity?) to surf back home. I think the use of the main engines is minimal in that maneuver.

It does take a boatload of liquid O2 and H2 to burn the main engines to be able to actually get to a higher orbit, and it also takes a lot of the main engines to cause your circular orbit to be in a different circle around the planet, even at the same height.