The folks on site have found no damage to the orbiter.

There has been so much undue hysteria building up to this launch, that it's amazing that they've ever flown it at all.

The issue isn't safety, or risk of loss of vehicle of mission. The simple fact is that it costs too damn much.

What few people realize, though I think you pointed it out a few years ago, is that this whole foam damage issue is not new. This has been going on from pretty much flight one, and the risk it has posed to the Shuttle has been the same throughout the entire program. The only difference now is that we have lost a vehicle and crew to it and we have better cameras to see all the crap that falls off the stack and hits the vehicle during ascent.

This isn't a new problem with the Shuttle, it's a problem it's always had, we just know about it now. It's really just one more example (among many) of how the Shuttle has failed to live up to the hype that got it funded.

I would hope the ET is behaving itself better after all the money spent on it. Lets hope it stays that way till STS finishes the job.

Post broken on IE. :(

Rand,

I can't agree... like any good aerospace plane, it costs to damn much to have it operational and sitting on the ground. You are right that it costs a lot to launch it, but it is costing a lot more sitting on the ground and being maintained such that it can launch.

I agree. It costs too much either way, but if we're going to be spending the money, we need to start flying it. This limbo where we're spending the money but not flying is truly killing us. Use it or retire it, now.