Supposedly, NASA is well on track to get the shuttle back into space. If the shuttle were damaged like Columbia and they found out while it was in orbit, would NASA just leave it to eventually burn up in the atmosphere?
Yup.
And the dead crew with it.
Ain’t no such thing as an orbital parachute.
So if the Shuttle was up there, so was the crew, cold as a kipper on a cracker.
NASA had said if may have possible for the crew to get to the ISS had they known about the damaged wing of Columbia.
Supposedly, they would be able to use the ISS’ escape pod to get back to earth.
If the crew had no other way to get back home, they’d try to do some emergency repairs and then attempt a reentry. Perhaps tilting the spacecraft to minimize stress on the damaged portion.
If you somehow got the crew off the orbiter (e.g. by launching a rescue mission or transfer to the ISS), I think they’d bring the damaged orbiter down above the ocean to make sure it doesn’t hit a populated area.
That’s right. NASA owned up to both, after the Columbia disaster.
In Scenario 1: they would give it their best shot, minimize exposure and hope against hope.
Scenario 2: NASA would program in a descent path that would crash the vehicle into an ocean.
My understanding is they had not enough fuel to make it to the ISS - maybe w/ the ISS and the shuttle moving together they could have linked up, but I doubt it.
The only chance was a 2nd shuttle launch to rescue the astronauts. Then the shuttle would be abandoned in orbit while plans were made either to repair it w/ another launch or to destroy it.
Another possibility, though not mentioned, I would think it to refuel it in orbit and get it to the ISS (by another shuttle launch), but I don’t know if this shuttle was set up to dock w/ the ISS.
Orbital mechanics are complicated. Its not like driving a car. The Columbia was not in an orbit that would have allowed it to reach the ISS using only its OMS, the orbiting maneuvering system (the two smaller rocket motors above the three main engines in the aft). No shuttle could ever do this. It has to be launched into a specific orbit to reach the space station.
This was just barely possible. If NASA immediately fastracked another shuttle, disregarding normal safety procedures to get it into orbit asap, they might just barely have made it the Columbia before they ran out of consumables (oxygen, power etc.) Even then this would involve a never attempted, never even practiced, highly dangerous, multiple-person EVA transfer (Columbia was equipped with an airlock).
Completely impossible. The shuttle’s OMS cannot be refueled in space. Even if they could, as I said above, the maneuvering engines alone could not get it to the ISS. And no, Columbia had no way to dock with the ISS. The docking module is large and heavy and was only used on those specific ISS/Shuttle missions.