spacetoday.net: Columbia rescue would have been difficult but feasible: investigators

Posted: Sat, May 24, 2003, 8:33 AM ET (1233 GMT)
STS-107 patch (NASA)

Harold Gehman, chairman of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB), confirmed Friday that it would have been possible to mount a rescue mission had the damage to Columbia's wing been known shortly after launch, although such a mission would have been very challenging. Florida Today first reported Wednesday that an internal NASA study, performed at the request of the CAIB, showed that it would have been possible to launch Atlantis — which was being prepared for a March 1 launch — on a rescue mission as early as February 9 or 10. Atlantis would have rendezvoused with Columbia, whose crew would have conserved supplies and power to stay alive. Atlantis's crew would have then carried out spacewalks to send supplies and extra spacesuits to Columbia, so that Columbia's crew could be transferred back to Atlantis for return to Earth. Gehman said that such a mission would have been extremely difficult and hazardous, particularly because of the danger of falling foam during launch damaging Atlantis as well. Gehman said it may have also been possible to repair the damage to Columbia by stuffing a bag of water in the hole in the wing, then covering it with teflon tape. Even though either option could have been too risky to carry out, their existence contradicts earlier claims by NASA officials that there was nothing they could have done to save the crew. Gehman said those rescue options make decision by NASA not to seek spy satellite images of the shuttle "even more ominous."