[TheDon]

"Even if flight controllers had known for certain that protective heat tiles on the underside of the space shuttle had sustained severe damage at launching, little or nothing could have been done to address the problem, NASA officials say."

A brutal assessment of NASA. They didn't prepare for this type of problem. Oh well, you can't prepare for everything. Who would have had the foresight to see that if the tiles were damaged the crew was doomed, and they should make provisions for such an eventuality, one that didn't involve the crew being incinerated?

[stripes1776]

Who would have had the foresight to see that if the tiles were damaged the crew was doomed..."

Who? A scientist and technician who had done his job with competence.

[Lancey Howard]

Amen to your post #5. Agree 100%. (See post #12)

[blackdog]

Can NASA bring those Apollo grunts out of retirement for some serious engineer style foot/butt impact testing?

Does anyone find a basic flaw in the argument that a spacewalk in ZERO GRAVITY is going to damage tiles? I know the nature of the business of putting people in space and back is as dangerous as anything man could dream up even in the best circumstances. But to have the attitude that $hit Happens, and you can't do anything about it is inexcusable.