[VRWC_minion]

I personally don't see what the training issue has to do with it. If exiting the spacecraft to repair something could have been a factor then I believe that their would have been seven volunteers who would have been more than happy to take step by step instructions from the ground.

The problem was that their was no clue that their was something critical that needed fixing.

[Eva]

No, you're wrong, the problem was that even with training the walk would have been impossible without the mechanical arm to anchor the astronaut to the underside of the space craft. The arm was not on board because the tests that they were performing did not involve going outside the spacecraft.

It was also impossible to hook up with the space station because they were in an entirely different orbit. And the idea of sending up a second craft would have been nearly impossible because they did not have a second craft near ready to launch and even if they did they do not have the capabilities to control two vehicles at once. The NASA said that despite all this, they probably would have tried if they had known the extent of the damage to the Columbia.