[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....

[John Jamieson]

Space flight is very dangerous and the astros know it. I've been in several meeting where the Astro said GO and engineers said stop. Even the nontest pilots have the test pilot mentality. We wouldn't have a manned space program without them.

It's a terrible fact, but more people are killed driving to space jobs than die in space.