sbcanada said:
They knew there was damage to the shuttle after it had taken off.
They
didn't know there was damage. Examination of the film only revealed that something (insulation most likely) had struck the port wing, but did not indicate whether or not there was any damage. Insulation breaking off and striking things has happened numerous times in the past without causing damage.
Why the hell didn't they take an extra day or two to go out on a spacewalk and inspect the damage?
Colombia was not equipped with the Canadian designed arm, and they had no jetpacks for their suits. They simply couldn't get to the bottom of the shuttle without having one crew member volunteer to sacrifice themselves to float away from the shuttle and radio back any useful information. Yeah... genious idea there.
They could have gotten back to earth without the shuttle; there is the Russian rocket docked there or another shuttle could have come and get them eventually.
The shuttle could not make it to the higher orbit of the ISS, and even if it could it would not have been able to dock. Had the Soyuz capsule tried to rendevous with the shuttle in the lower orbit, it still could not dock (meaning crew would have to "float" from one to the other, if it is even possible to gain entry to the Soyuz capsule without establishing an airlock with another vehicle first). And, even if they could somehow get inside the Soyuz capsule, it would have left five crew still stranded on the shuttle, and another two stranded on the ISS. Another brilliant idea.
And yes, I suppose another shuttle could have eventually been sent up to retrieve their bodies, since they would have long since have been dead from asphixiation.
It really questions NASA's intelligence when they don't even take a look at it. "Our shuttle was probably damaged on takeoff. Oh well, lets do our experiements and hop in the shuttle and attempt to land."
NASA spent days carefully examining the footage taken during takeoff, and the brightest minds there concluded that (1) the likelihood of damage based on previous similar cases was low, and (2) more importantly, there wasn't a damned thing they could have done about it. The shuttle was going to have to come down, one way or another, within just a few days based on the limited resources on board. The original mission schedule was the safest possible way to attempt a return. In such cases, fewer unexpected changes of plans are generally better.
If that loose insulation was the cause of this, and they did not really go and check for damage... This would be another prime example of American stupidity.
Your armchair analysis is just a prime example of your own stupidity. And frankly, your tendancy to jump on the "stupid Americans" bandwagon in these types of events (unfortunate killing of Canadian soldiers) is not only irritating, but revealing.
