I am sorry. NASA effed up. They could have done the repair.
I think they changed the tiles for “environmental” BS reasons.
It never should have happened.
I also watched on tv when the Challenger blew up.
We were in school and the teachers wanted us to see since
Christa McAuliffe was on board.
It blew up, they removed the tv and wouldn’t talk about it.
It was weird, so it stands out in my memory.