NASA Decides No Fix Needed for Endeavor's Tiles

bhmit1 writes "It looks like NASA is reporting that no repairs are needed for Endeavor. 'After meeting for five hours, mission managers opted Thursday night against any risky spacewalk repairs, after receiving the results of one final thermal test. The massive amount of data indicated Endeavor would suffer no serious structural damage during next week's re-entry. Their worry was not that Endeavor might be destroyed and its seven astronauts killed in a replay of the Columbia disaster — the gouge is too small to be catastrophic. They were concerned that the heat of re-entry could weaken the shuttle's aluminum frame at the damaged spot and result in lengthy post-flight repairs.'"

Comments

Why not?

[BlackCobra43]

Why wouldn't you want to make the calls?

As a mission manager you'd have next to no reprimand if anything goes wrong (see: columbia aftermath), even as a direct result of policies you've implemented and the decisions you make.

The astronauts are trained not to worry about these because they have t ooperate a highly complicated SPACEFARING VEHICLE, so they won'nt be the wiser until shit starts breaking off.

Frankly, I would make the call with a big, shit-eating grin on my face. THAT'll teach those nasa flyboys not to trust a bunch of PHBs on the ground.