Ars has a pretty fantastic write up on the whole thing [1]. Seems like beyond getting Atlantis into orbit, it would have required creating whole-cloth procedures for EVAs for extracting astronauts from a Shuttle and doing it with a skeleton crew of four people, which, even then, would have led to serious space issues on re-entry.<p>And even with all of that, was the question of, could Atlantis launch without the same insulation damage issue arising? Given that they hadn&#x27;t prepared any mitigation strategies yet, the answer was &quot;no&quot; and under those conditions, the Shuttle is grounded.<p>How awful would it have been to lose Columbia AND Atlantis?<p>1: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;science&#x2F;2016&#x2F;02&#x2F;the-audacious-rescue-plan-that-might-have-saved-space-shuttle-columbia&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;science&#x2F;2016&#x2F;02&#x2F;the-audacious-rescue-...</a>