You guys at MSFC do one hell of a job! My first job after graduating college was working in the museum at the Space and Rocket Center. I met a lot of astronauts when I worked there. They are a great group of people and were always very friendly to me on a personal level. As someone with a degree in history, I especially enjoyed talking to someone who was involved in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo era. Alan Bean is a good example of this. He took time out of his busy schedule when he was at the museum to talk to me one on one for a while. I think that he is one of the nicest men that I have ever met.
I too fear the old NASA management ways. Did they spend enough time addressing the tile issue or do they have reverse go fever to get the shuttle home?