On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 15:29:19 +0100, Dave Ludlow wrote:

On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 07:58:59 +0000, "Chuck Stewart"

You can't just "park it" and walk away with the keys...

True... but from page 174 of the report:

"...Mission Control would then configure Columbia for a de-orbit burn
that would ditch the Orbiter in the Pacific Ocean, or would have the
Columbia crew take it to a higher orbit for a possible subsequent
repair mission if more thorough repairs could be developed.
This rescue was considered challenging but feasible... For a detailed
discussion of the rescue and repair options see Appendix D.13."

[Appendix D had not yet been published when I last checked, yesterday
evening).

So, the "park and repair later" option was certainly not ruled out by
the investigation team.

Hmmm... assuming power is brought to the orbiter is it possible to
reheat and use a frozen hypergolic OMS system?

We could assume the power is from a payload bay pallet brought up
in the repair ship, transferred to the stricken orbiter, and
hotwired to the orbiter power system. It would have to last just
long enough for the orbiter to get home.

--
Chuck Stewart
"Anime-style catgirls: Threat? Menace? Or just studying algebra?"