Should the tiles on the Space Shuttle be fixed before reentry?

Question

Opinions?

Answer 1

Given the disaster with Columbia, NASA is being unltra careful with tiles now. They have teams of experts analysing the damage and performing tests to see if the tiles will hold up. It is already known that tiles can withstand certain degrees of damage, including tiny cracks and small pits and holes, so the suggestion of an ultr-closeup visual inspection is pointless.

NASA has tests being run, and they have the input of the seven people whose lives depend on these tiles in the mix as well. Frankly, whatever they decide to do is a perfectly justified decision for precisely those reasons. If the end result of whichever course of action they take is wrong and the shuttle disintegrates, no-one can accuse them of negligence or wilful disregard for the lives of the crew.

But in the meantime by all means let the 'experts' on this board carry on railing against NASA for their stupidity, because obviously they know more about it than the people actually involved at NASA and onboard the shuttle....

Answer 2

They should send at least one astronaut for an ultra-closeup visual inspection..eyes are better than cameras, and may be able to detect damage unseen by the camera views thus far.

Failing that, I would strenuously vote for a repair attempt. There could be very fine cracks in the surrounding tiles, unseen due to unfavorable sun angles, or the affected tiles could come completely free due to the extremely fast airflow during reentry, causing further damage, which could conceivably lead to a bad day for the astronauts.

Answer 3

I think they've already said it - other shuttles have come back with worse damage.

Fixing it could be making an annoying problem deadly.

Just my opinion.

Answer 4

Nah i dont know those people and i could care less if they die.

Answer 5

Nah... Let them burn!