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by magpi3
1562 days ago
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I just realized that more time has passed since the Columbia Shuttle disaster (19 years), then passed between the Columbia and Challenger disasters (17 years). That seems impossible to me. I remember reading each of the astronaut's bios after the Columbia disaster, and the same thought kept echoing in my head: what a tragedy, what a waste. Seven remarkably talented people. I had no idea until I read this article how easily their deaths could have been avoided. |
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In reality, there was likely nothing that could have been done once the damage occurred. Example source (form the 3 months after the disaster) here [1].
At the time no space shuttle was kept ready to launch for rescue (though this changed after this disaster) and their options here were limited. A common thought is 'just dock at the ISS' but the shuttle didn't have the fuel to reach it (future flights would ensure they were in the same plane to be able to dock there).
A more in depth review years later(with a summary here [2]) did find that it may have actually been possible to launch another shuttle in time, but it would have had to have skipped safety checks, and importantly, launch with a known issue on board (the foam strike possibility). And even then, the rescue mission would have had to gone off without a hitch, because even in the absolutely bare minimum amount of time required, the Columbia crew would have been dangerously low on oxygen.
[1] https://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts107/030430save/#:~....
[2] https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/02/the-audacious-rescue...