"Jorge R. Frank" wrote in
Again, Columbia could not have reached ISS. If the spacewalk showed fatal
damage, the only two options were for the crew to attempt to improvise a
patch to the wing (which almost certainly would not have worked, given the
difficulties NASA has since encountered developing RCC repair techniques),
or snip

They would have tried something, in any case -- and stuffing the gap with
metal and water (ice) might have allowed the wing to hold together until
they got low enough to bail out (a matter of only a few minutes more), or it
might have created aero instability EARLIER and destroyed the wing in some
other manner. Knowing is always better than not knowing, and going down
swinging is always better than being blind-sided. But it could well have
been a hopeless situation. Hopelessness was guaranteed by the shuttle team's
inability to understand in real time how serious it was. People within the
team will bitterly regret these lost opportunities all their lives.