No remote manip arm on this flight ...
(It would be nice if we all knew what this crew was *trained* for and outfitted with before we all propose what NASA *could* have done ...)
The wings are potentially damaged at each launch (seagulls, ice from launch tank, insulation has come off launch tank at least once before, and directly on-point, analysis of damage after landing reached conclusion that magnitude of damage from insulation fall-off posed no risk of serious consequence); so the event that would trigger special examination is not POTENTIAL damage. Your tires are potentially damaged each time you drive, and failure of a tire can result in death; do you check you tires each time after you drive?
Your position might be correct, but you need to add some particulars to your argument. POTENTIAL damage is a bit vague; but we can agree that the consequences are possible death (as with damaged tires).
I assume you mean ascent because once a proper deorbit burn is done, that shuttle is coming down. I don't know enough about orbital mechanics to provide a precise answer either, but I do know that a trip to the ISS requires a particular launch profile, one that Columbia did not use.
Who cares? The space station has MONTHS worth of supplies. And it only has ONE capsule on it.
I hear sometime in June, with the 3 people there. I'll be optimistic and say the end of June, which is 150 days from today, about 163 from when they might have been able to dock with the ISS. Divide that by 3 1/3, and that's 45 days had they docked today, or 34 days from today had they docked at the earliest opportunity. If it's only until the beginning of June, that drops it to 36 days if they docked today or 25 days from today had they docked at the earliest opportunity. They could have used the one capsule to offload 3 of their number and extended the time somewhat.
Had they been able to get to the ISS, this would have been a viable option.
Who knows what Nasa could really do if it wanted to get it done? There are also numerous possible ways to get things into orbit, not just shuttles.
Now how do I deal with this? You're asking the same agency who saw pieces of the external fuel tank fall off on launch 2 of the last 3 launches, with possible catastrophic damage on the last launch, to cut corners to get another shuttle up no later than the middle of next week if Columbia couldn't get to the ISS and hope that they could get the repairs done quickly. If they could have made the ISS, then there would have been some time to get things close to right.
As for launch vehicles, there are exactly 2 ways for humans to get into space; the shuttle and the Russian Soyuz. We don't have any rocket-launched capsules, and the last I checked, the Russians abandoned their shuttle program.
"""Where are the replacement tiles supposed to be stored?"""
In the cargo bay of the new shuttle
I thought you were hankering for them to have already been on the current shuttle. As for timing, see above.
"""How is the crew going to heat the adhesive to get these replacement tiles to stick?"""
Heating torches
See above.