I've been wondering what would happen to the orbiter if it was damaged and the decision was made to shelter the crew in the ISS. I had assumed it would just be directed to plunge into a remote ocean, but in fact there are plans to try to land it by remote control, as mentioned in this MSNBC article.
You know, this brings up the whole question of modifying the Shuttle so that the whole mission could be unmanned. That would allow comletion of the ISS with minimal risk. My guess is that this isn't feasible because we don't have automated docking systems like the Russian Progress ships, and it isn't practicle to develop one before Shuttle's 2010 retirement. Anyway, it's nice to know they'll try to save the orbiter.
"“It’s kind of like a jumper cable that would only be used in an event where you had done a repair, but couldn’t be 100 percent certain [it] would be something that would be flight worthy with a crew,” Herring said.
The cable would connect an avionics bay in Discovery’s middeck with the controls one level up on its flight deck, effectively allowing flight controllers in Houston to perform landing activities currently done by shuttle astronauts. "
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