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I've heard this and perhaps we can get some other comments ...

Why could not the crew have been offloaded to the space station with one taking a spare suit to the orbiter and then taking them back and repeating the process? ... obviously last man off the shuttle might present a drift problem but it seems to me the shuttle could have been evacuated ... maybe not save the orbiter, maybe put it in some sort of orbit (don't know how long it can stay up at altitude) ...

if this is true, it doesn't sound good for the next set of shuttle astronauts, if they can't evac to the space station, given it would be cramped and short on supplies ...

•NASA did not consider a spacewalk by the crew to inspect the left wing. The astronauts are not trained nor equipped to repair tile damage anywhere on the shuttle, Mr. Dittemore said.

this statement makes no sense to me ... we might have damage but since we can't repair let's not even take a look? ... hmmmm ....

Normally, it takes four months to prepare a shuttle for launch. But in a crisis, shuttle managers say they might be able to put together a launch in less than a week if all testing were thrown out the window and a shuttle were on the pad. Columbia had enough fuel and supplies to remain in orbit until Wednesday, and the astronauts could have scrimped to stay up a few days beyond that.

If they had started a rescue plan the minute after reaching orbit, then there would have been at least 21 days to reach them. A Progress vehicle with supplies could have been sent to extend their time in orbit until another shuttle was dispatched.

Very interesting article.
It sounds to me like:
1. NASA failed to check out the damage to the wing.
2. Had the wing been inspected, a more reliable analysis of the risk of reentry could have been done.
3. If it was determined that the risk was too great to try to bring the shuttle in, there were options available, albeit none of them cozy.
A. They could have "limped" to the ISS and "floated over in their space suits".
B. The shuttle Atlantis could have been rushed into service and sent up for rescue.
C. An alternate reentry trajectory could have "relieved the heat on the ship".

Most importantly, NASA first needed to check out the wing.

Bottom line is this:

The shuttle was damaged on lift-off. They "analyzed" that, without visual confirmation, and determined it was not a problem.

They made ZERO effort to get a visual inspection after that. No space walk to examine the ship. No telescopes used. No satellites used. No cameras/telescopes from orbit (space station, hubble, etc) used either. They did absolutely NOTHING after making that initial uneducated evaluation.

That was a HUGE mistake. And, in the press conference, the NASA program director gave it all away with his response:

QUESTION: Did NASA consider a spacewalk to examine the damage?

ANSWER: We don't have the ability to repair tiles in space.

That did NOT answer the question. Who cares if that shuttle could have repaired the tiles? The should have at least inspected to see if there was a problem.

IF they had inspected, and found the problem, then contingency plans could have been made:

1) Stay in orbit as long as possible.
2) Download all shuttle data, all expierment data, and give the crew time to say personal goodbyes, letters, emails, radio calls, etc.
3) Analyze contingency plans such as launching another shuttle to rescue them, launching another shuttle to repair the damage, spacewalking to repair the damage if possible, docking with space station to wait out rescue/repair, or simply taking as long as possible before attempting re-entry or simply dieing in orbit.

NASA made a huge mistake. And the program director's evasive non-responsive answer betrayed his feelings of guild and responsibility.

In the early shuttle days, NASA considered a tile-patching kit that was essentially a caulking gun, but the gunk undermined the performance of the tiles and never flew.

Translation-- "The stuff would never work, anyway, so we got rid of it and never developed anything that would hold up to the heat of re-entry...."