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Testy Toad T2/01/2013 11:24:07 am PST

re: #10 Feline Fearless Leader

I was sorely disappointed that they apparently did not have a solid contingency plan to deal with something like that. That the heat shield tiles could get damaged in some way should be obvious - micrometeorite, collision, etc. So you would think there would be some idea of being able to do an EVA and effect some sort of temporary repair that at a minimum would increase the changes of the shuttle being able to survive re-entry.

Technology is, frankly, a harsh mistress. Several times, efforts were made to develop a method to repair the TPS, but in reality it’s damned near impossible to even inspect the entire shuttle while on-orbit, never mind make repairs without having the entire flight consist of making sure that the flight was safe. Meanwhile, making the repaired surface as smooth as it has to be would be immensely challenging if not impossible, given the constraints of spacesuit gloves and such.

Though I wish it were safe, space flight is not safe. Nobody was drafted into NASA.