[Allanon]

And why the heck is Ed sending Gordo back? He has to know that'll be a disaster.

I think Ed is giving Gordo a redo, the situation on the station is different with it being a lot larger and more people so the chance of him cracking due to isolation is less.

 

[Allanon]

I don't know when Ed changed his mind about shooting down Buran

Ed changed his mind when Gary told him it's not a black and white choice and maybe something else can be done. Ed probably remembered his wife telling him not everything is black and white there is grey.

 

[Allanon]

Do we have a clue why the terrorists were mad enough at NASA to do this?

They blamed NASA for the loss of jobs due to the new fuel (helium-3) found on the Moon.