[John Jamieson]

Should they have carried spare parts for every possibility? Each tile is different and has a serial number.

[mewzilla]

The early flights did indeed carry tile repair kits. If repairs were impossible, why bother?

[yooper]

"Should they have carried spare parts for every possibility? Each tile is different and has a serial number."

Each tile should have spares on the ISS, and provisions should be made for enabling replacement of the tiles while the shuttle is docked on the ISS. Each shuttle should be fitted with a docking ring.

Keep the faith all. This incident will ultimately result in increased protection of our people....

[SarahW]

I'm saying there should have been a method for repairing damaged tiles in critical areas.

I don't care whether its a heat resistant patch or foam or a tile carving kit.

If this is the best they can do (cross fingers and pray) I think a re-design is in order.

[Axenolith]

You could fashion some type of stopgap measure. Cobbing together fixes, figuring workarounds, solving the unsolveable... The daily task of the Homo Sapiens Americansis :)

[fso301]

Should they have carried spare parts for every possibility? Each tile is different and has a serial number.

Actually, given the critical nature of the tiles, why can't a small multiaxis-CNC machine along with tile blanks and the CNC codes for each tile be stowed aboard?