Re: Columbia question
You might ask here to MCC.
I'm not sure how easy it would be to find an answer.
Years ago, I asked a question (by e-mail) to a NASA person who forwarded it to a specialist. It was about Cassini taking pictures of Earth during its flyby. It wasn't going to because the cameras were not meant for objects as bright as Earth, but rather for the dim lights 10 times further out in the solar system.
Raoul