NASA says Columbia Rescue was Possible

nuke-alwin writes "Apparently NASA is saying that a rescue mission may have been possible for the Columbia crew. I first saw this on TV, but Chicago Sun-Times is also reporting the story. The risks would have been great, and may have endangered more astronaut's lives."

Comments

Why send another shuttle ?

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

I don't know much about space engineering, but wouldn't it have been possible to send one of these russian Soyuz pods they use to supply the ISS ? if I remember correctly, there's also one of these things attached permanently to the space station as an escape pod that can be used if the crew needs to bail out. And even if hatches aren't compatible between a Soyuz and a space shuttle, maybe the crew can spacewalk to it ? surely it's less dicey than docking two shuttles together and risking the lives of two crews instead of just one. Oh and yes, launching a Soyuz is a fraction of the price of a shuttle launch, but that's hardly a consideration in this case.