Quote:
Originally posted by Snowone
One thing the NASA spokesman kept mention over the weekend is that even if the shuttle crew had a way to spacewalk under the shuttle and repair the damage to the tiles, they would have done as much damage to other tiles getting to the damaged area, as they would have repaired.
The heat tiles are basically 10% sand and 90% air with a ceramic layer.
Hind sight is 20/20, we learn from the mistakes and fix'm.
We can all imagine other options. They weren't there this time.
Next time, lets hope there are other options.
;)
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I can't imagine what kind of bonding agent one would use in space that would work in the temperature extremes and/or not require an atmosphere in order to cure. Also, I think many of the tiles, and especially those in places like leading edges, are one-offs.