"Your flippant response amazes me.
I pray that you are not an engineer or scientist. If you are, God help us all........"
My bet is that there are quite a few engineers on this thread whose patience is wearing thin. I know mine is. Not really from a comment like yours, but from those determined to see conspiracy and coverup in all of NASA activities.
The real problem with your question is that it hits a raw spot for anyone that has worked for NASA, because the answer is yes, we *could* have designed it better. We could have come up with better systems and a more robust platform -- if we had the money to do so.
The Shuttle is a compromise, a kludge. We were asked to deliver a quart in a pint pot, and all we got in was a pint-and-a-half. There are lots of things we could have built better, that we argued for, pleaded to get, but didn't. Instead we got what we got. And it irks us. But it was the best that we can do with the time and money allocated.
So when someone asks us couldn't we have designed it better? It's pulling a scab off all the old scars we accumulated trying to do just that.
That's the most sincere response I've seem on this matter. I am no expert on these things, and greatly admire the men and women who make space flight possible. Something in my gut tells me we could do more, and I imagine what prevents us from doing more is the money. (It always is)
When I was young I was sure I would see the first man on Mars, having missed the moon landings. Well, over twenty years have passed, and we are no closer. I don't doubt the scientist ability, I tend to doubt the nations will on this matter. I no longer believe I will see the Mars landing, but I hope my children will.
This whole thing sickens me. In my life, my most lasting memories of the space program are watching two shuttles explode. Once in school, and now on an otherwise dull saturday morning. I don't want to get used to this, but, and please forgive me for this, this time doesn't have the impact the first one did. I pray I am not getting numb to such things.
While watching the debris, I kept asking myslef "Why? What could have happened?" But I suspect this question was asked much more deeply, and with greater sadness, in mission control.