This is a bunch of crap. America would never have just left them up there to die. Never. We would have done something, especially if they knew right after launch. This is just a way for them to feel better about the fact that they missed it. Thank G*d that this kind of defeatism didn't reign when Apollo 13 ran into problems.
re: America would have tried something...
Agreed. And why not call on the Russians for help? I'm not too proud, by a longshot! I'm told that they (Russians) couldn't even have *supplied* a stranded Columbia with air to buy more time. How can this be true? Surely we could have come up with something. I smell fatalism, and if we're fatalistic we'd better shut down and go back to hoeing corn.