It certainly appears that NASA's contingency planning wasn't all that it might have been. They couldn't abort to the ISS - which appears to be difficult to rendezvous with at the best of times - and there were no other non-reentry abort or repair options. It would appear that the pilot and commander, at least, must have known there was some risk in reentry. Terrible thing to have to live with for 14 days!
Discussed at
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/sts107_options_030202.htmlWhat NASA obviously needs to do (and appears to want to do) is to go with one of the SSTO (single stage to orbit space plane) options they've been examining. It doesn't require any fancy R&D and is much more controllable in flight. It's not just a glorified glider. Boeing and Rockwell seem to have the leading big and fancy options, but there is a prize of $10m for a private venture effort and from memory there are five US companies in the running for that.
The problem is, of course, money. NASA would need to have their funding increased by a third for the rest of the decade to pay for one of the "big boys'" SSTO options. Fat chance in the current climate.
- Pfranz
