[aristeides]

Columbia was considerably heavier than the other shuttles. That being the case, loading it with the new superheavy Space Hab 2 lab on its last, fatal flight now looks like a serious mistake. None of the experiments conducted on that flight that we have been told about sound as if they were all that vital.

The weight increased the kinetic energy, and thus heat, on the reentry.

[Procyon]

The folly of the Space Shuttle and ISS: The space station can't do much science and the Columbia couldn't service the space station -- so NASA gives the otherwise useless Columbia a science mission.

Now we have three shuttles. How many total flights a year can go to the ISS to finish the construction? And how many years before more Soyuz "rescue" capsules can be manufactured to replenish ISS three-man escape system? On future Shuttle missions to ISS, how long could ISS support it's crew of three and the shuttle's crew of 4 to 7 if a later Shuttle is deemed damaged and unable to safely return to earth?

[RightWhale]

None of the experiments conducted on that flight that we have been told about sound as if they were all that vital.

Mostly science, probably. That is supposedly the purpose of the ISS, so the question now might be whether to put all science on the ISS and stop flying separate shuttle missions except for Hubble type satellite maintenance.