[Poohbah]

My original proposal was predicated on the problem being dealt with within the 48 hours of Columbia's launch. Atlantis would have begun to be prepped within 4 days of the launch and would have reached the Columbia well within her air limits.

In other words, you ASSUMED that the problem would be correctly identified within 48 hours of launch...

[KantianBurke]

Of course. NASA's failure to anticipate the severity of the damage is quite damning. My proposal is therefore predicated on NASA erring on the side of caution instead of throwing it to the wind.