A thought that seems to have been lost with these guys.
OH, PUHLEEEEZE! Do you really think that no one in the entire NASA organization considered a backup plan? I'm sure there is more to it than your blanket, thinly-veiled accusations...
They have an incredible array of backup plans, flight rules, and flight techniques. They were detailed before Challenger, and were all reviewed and updated as part of the post-Challenger shake-up. The "tile repair" problem is rather obvious, and I believe it was probably looked at in detail before being rejected.