->  DW> cosmodrome at Baikonur, which is something like 50 degrees 
->  DW> north. 
 
-> 51.6 degrees 
 
->  DW> For this reason, the ISS was deliberately put into an orbit that 
->  DW> is inclined to the equator by about this amount. But Columbia's 
->  DW> orbit, on this mission, was much less inclined. 
 
-> not much less... 39 degrees... that's only 12 degrees difference... i could  
-> both, ISS and STS, when they passed over my location... 
  
A 12-degree shift of orbital plane would require a lot of fuel. The 
required change in velocity would be several thousand kilometres per 
hour. And the angle between the orbital planes of Columbia and the ISS 
may have been a lot more than 12 degrees. If they were inclined in 
opposite directions, the angle could have been about 90 degrees! 
  
->  DW> To reach it, a rocket from Baikonur would have had to burn a 
->  DW> lot of extra fuel. The Russian supply rockets don't have 
->  DW> enough. 
 
-> possibly... however, they would have had no more problems than STS going to  
-> for work or even into the orbit they did take... 
  
Could you repeat that? 
  
                         dow 
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