Lack of energy budget. You should read the article. It's a good story. "Columbia's 39 degree orbital inclination could not have been altered to the ISS 51.6 de

Lack of energy budget. You should read the article. It's a good story. "Columbia's 39 degree orbital inclination could not have been altered to the ISS 51.6 degree inclination without approximately 12,600 ft/sec of translational capability. Columbia had 448 ft/sec of propellant available." Columbia had 3% of the propellant needed in order to get to the ISS - the article says that sometimes to execute a plane change it may take more than the energy needed to get an object into space in the first place.