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This is a bit confusing. Since Columbia the contingency plan for all of the shuttles (except one, which was to the Hubble) was apparently to have them go to the

This is a bit confusing. Since Columbia the contingency plan for all of the shuttles (except one, which was to the Hubble) was apparently to have them go to the ISS and wait there for rescue from the standby shuttle (or later the next mission once the ISS was fully complete). Was Columbia at an unusual inclination for a shuttle mission? [edit] Answered my own question, this does seem to be the case. At least for the missions after STS-107.

tanzam75 13y ago
> Was Columbia at an unusual inclination for a shuttle mission? Here's the breakdown of orbital inclinations for Shuttle missions: 28.3-28.8 53 34.3 1 38.0-40.3 11 49.4 1 51.3-51.6 47 56.9-57.0 20 61.9 1 Not orbited 1 As you can see, 89% of Shuttle launches went to: around 28.5° to deploy satellites around 51.6° to reach Mir or ISS around 57.0° for earth observation