[OldFriend]

I suppose we ought to be able to have the pilot of a 737 just step out in flight on the wing to check out problems in flight????????????????

There cannot be contingency plans for every conceivable scenario.

[narby]

There cannot be contingency plans for every conceivable scenario.

But it would have been easy to send out an astronaut to check the tiles if there was a clue that they might have been damaged. If damage was found. Extend the stay in orbit by turning off systems, like Apollo 13. And send up a second shuttle to bring people home.

Don't tell me they couldn't have launched another shuttle in 2-3 weeks if lives depended on it.