spacetoday.net: NASA: no way to save Columbia during reentry

Posted: Fri, May 2, 2003, 7:48 PM ET (2348 GMT)
STS-107 patch (NASA)

An internal NASA report prepared after the Columbia accident and released this week concluded that there was no way to alter the reentry of the shuttle in such a way that would have allowed the crew to survive. The study, performed as part of an internal NASA review and not part of the independent investigation, looked at whether jettisoning equipment from the shuttle, such as the Spacehab module in its cargo bay, or cooling its left wing prior to reentry could have prevented the shuttle from breaking apart during reentry. Those techniques could have been used if NASA had known while Columbia was still in orbit that the shuttle's wing had been damaged during liftoff. Under the best-case scenario, however, engineers found that they could reduce the heating on the left wing by seven percent, too little to make a difference.