this post was submitted on 24 May 2024
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I thought both of these were actually impossible for Columbia. IIRC the rescue mission was impossible because there were no available vehicles, and the EVA equipment onboard would let them inspect the tiles but they couldn't actually fix them.
Atlantis was already scheduled to fly not too long after, and the CAIB discussed that there was a possibility of moving the launch up as Columbia could have stayed an extraordinary long time in orbit due to their specific mission loadout.
Repairs with harvested tiles were also discussed but yeah , chance of success rated as low. Still, better than deorbiting with nothing done.
NASA has been known to do the impossible from time to time.