The chief for human space flight at NASA said Wednesday he would have approved the launch of another space shuttle to rescue the crew of the Columbia, if he had known the extent of its damage and that the crew was doomed.A high-stakes effort to rescue the seven astronauts would have involved risks never encountered in the 40-year history of human space flight, according to astronauts, space engineers and an internal study that NASA itself is conducting.Although the issue may seem academic, it is central to NASA’s future because such a rescue mission is likely to be a key safety option once shuttle flights resume. William Readdy, NASA associate administrator for space flight, said the agency believes these rescue missions are possible.Readdy’s statement also is a powerful acknowledgment that the agency had erred in thinking that nothing could have or should have been done to save the Columbia, even if the agency knew it had catastrophic damage.NASA was already preparing another space shuttle, the Atlantis, at the Kennedy Space Center and could have rushed it to the launchpad if it was willing to discard the usual procedures and regulations, according to a senior engineer at the launch site. The orbiter was mated to its external tank and solid rocket boosters by late January, a process that could surely have been accelerated if NASA officials had recognized the gravity of the Columbia’s problems in the days after the January 16 launch, said the engineer, who asked not to be identified by name.Indeed, by January 18, NASA had convened a team to assess whether Columbia’s left wing was damaged by foam debris and a quick decision could have allowed for a launch of Atlantis by the second week of February, he said. At the same time, Columbia’ crew could have stopped all unnecessary activity, preserving its supplies of water, food, fuel and air. (LAT-WP)
