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Things were different then. If Glenn's space capsule was compromised there was nothing anyone could do. He was flying a rock and had no controls whatsoever. He had no supplies and there was literally no chance for a rescue.

In this case if the wing had been compormised and they knew it, there were lota of options. But they needed to start on those options the minute they suspected anything. I have heard a number of times today that the Shuttle Atlantis could have been readied in less than a week. It could not have been tested and tested and tested, but it could have been ready for an emergency mission in less than a week.

There was also the possiblity of a resupply from a disposable vehicle like the russians used to build and serivce their space stations. They could have stayed up long enough to mount a rescue mission if they had a resupply of oxygen scrubbers and food and stuff.

There were ways. My only hope is that they didn't really suspect that it was as bad as it was. Otherwise, heads will roll.

He was flying a rock and had no controls whatsoever.

Then why did I hear him say yesterday that he had to do part of the re-entry manually, and not just the overiding of the jetisoning of the retro pack. I believe he had attitude control, and up through Apollo, you "flew" the beast by adjusting the attitude of the capsult relative to the "wind". (Come to think about it, that's what airplanes do too, but they use aerodynamic forces on control surfaces to adjust the attitude of a wing, rather than using reaction controls to adjust the attitude of a rounded bottom can)

Things were different then. If Glenn's space capsule was compromised there was nothing anyone could do. He was flying a rock and had no controls whatsoever. He had no supplies and there was literally no chance for a rescue.

I wasn't answering the question as to whether or not anything could be done. I also was not commenting on any of the technical stuff.

I was answering your question about whether or not they would tell the crew if they felt a disaster looming.

They did NOT tell Glenn. Do you think that they would tell 7 astronuats in a Shuttle? I think NOT.