CAPE CANAVERAL: The destruction of the US space shuttle Columbia in 2003 not only spurred the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) to figure out a way to save a stranded space shuttle’s crew, but also how to get their damaged ship back home.

The key is aboard space shuttle Discovery, which is now scheduled for launch on Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida after two weather-related delays over the weekend.

Among the two tons of cargo the shuttle will be toting to the International Space Station is a set of cables that could be used to hot-wire a shuttle so it can be remotely controlled to leave orbit and land without a crew aboard.

NASA developed the system after the Columbia crew died aboard their damaged ship in Feb 2003. The shuttle had been struck by falling foam insulation from the ship’s fuel tank during lift-off, but NASA did not realize the impact critically damaged the shuttle’s heat shield until after the spacecraft broke apart during a landing attempt.

In addition to fixing the fuel tank in an attempt to cut down on falling debris, engineers developed in-flight inspection techniques and outfitted the space station as an orbital haven where a shuttle crew could await rescue if their ship was too damaged to carry them home.

But the space agency doesn’t want to abandon a $2 billion spaceship either. Nor does it want the shuttle to return unguided through Earth’s atmosphere and possibly crash down in populated areas.

“The one thing we’re not going to do is put a dead orbiter out into space to just fall where it may,” said John Shannon, the deputy space shuttle program manager.

The cables aboard Discovery, which will be stowed on the station in case they are ever needed, would enable a shuttle crew to wire the ship’s electronic components so ground controllers could handle the tasks normally tackled by astronauts.—Reuters