Columbia's future career if it isn't destroyed

When reading about the Space shuttle Columbia, I noticed that its next mission would have been to the international space station, but after that all that was planned was Hubble servicing flights, and STS 107 seems to be the last spacelab mission planned. What would its future career be like? Would it have been withdrawn from service within a few years, or what, as for some reason NASA weren't keen on sending it to the ISS for some reason.

(Also, for the purpose of the question, an ASB magically fixed the foam issue)
 
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When reading about the Space shuttle Columbia, I noticed that its next mission would have been to the international space station, but after that all that was planned was Hubble servicing flights, and STS 107 seems to be the last spacelab mission planned. What would its future career be like? Would it have been withdrawn from service within a few years, or what, as for some reason NASA weren't keen on sending it to the ISS for some reason.

(Also, for the purpose of the question, an ASB magically fixed the foam issue)

If it somehow survived despite the damage it sustained during launch the Space Shuttle program would still be temporarily halted while an investigation takes place because the damage was significant and noticeable.

If it wasn't damaged, Discovery would probably be the shuttle that disintegrates since it suffered similar damage in 2005, and needed to be repaired in orbit.
 
The whole future of the STS program was doomed as the level of space junk, especially in higher orbits, reached a density that made manned space flight above the lowest orbits just too dangerous. Reason #1 why missions to service the Hubble were considered the most dangerous the shuttles had to perform.
 
NASA was poised to announce a new series of Shuttle upgrades I believe in March of 2003, and the Space Launch Initiative would have continued. The International Space Station would probably be completed in 2003, with the Centrifuge Accommodations Module and Habitation Module being likely to be added.

Commercial crew and cargo will probably find itself stunted since there isn't an apparent need for that kind of hardware with the Space Shuttle to be around in the 2010s.

I would eventually expect by 2020 or so, the Space Shuttle to be retired and replaced by a new NASA vehicle based off the developments in the Space Launch Initiative.

This presumes that no other Shuttle is lost in that timeframe. If one does, that would change things somewhat.
 
If it somehow survived despite the damage it sustained during launch the Space Shuttle program would still be temporarily halted while an investigation takes place because the damage was significant and noticeable.

If it wasn't damaged, Discovery would probably be the shuttle that disintegrates since it suffered similar damage in 2005, and needed to be repaired in orbit.

You mean STS 114? Very unlikely that that would have lead to loss of crew and vehicle. The damage was very minor and the repair was mostly undertaken because this was the return to flight mission.
 

Archibald

Banned
As Usili said - Columbia was a "first generation orbiter" just like Enterprise (that never flew in space) and Challenger (destroyed) It was too heavy for the ISS orbit (that had been moved from Freedom 28.5 degree to 51.6 so that the Russians could access it)
So Columbia was to fly alone - Spacehab and Hubble missions, and that was it.
Sooner or later she was to be retired. Back in 2000-2003 the orbiter fleet was to be extended to 2020, so I think Columbia, would have not been upgraded to the new standard, and retired in 2010 or so.
 
Two more missions, a hubble repair around 2005 and the retrieval mission in about 2010. After that probably retirement, as the only other mission it's equipped for is spacehab which is obsolete due to Iss. It might fly a few more satellite repair missions or one of the ideas about using it as a private industry spacecraft might come to pass but after 2010 it probably does join a museum somewhere.

If shuttle lasts longer then Nasa would probably be working on a successor now. Without columbia this might be a spaceplane but more akin to dream chaser with a dedicated cargo rocket than another STS. Also the shuttle is probably a bit better thought of if a second glaring flaw hadn't been exposed in such dramatic fashion.
 
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