->> I am not convinced that *nothing* could have been done
->> once in orbit. As long as we do not know what the
->> problem  was, we can not rule out the possibility a
->> solution.

 DW> This is true. But if the problem was a large area of
 DW> damaged or missing heatshield tiles, then there would
 DW> have been no way to make repairs in the available time
 DW> with available materials.

there's still no way to repair lost tiles... they can't glue them back on
because the glue doesn't cure properly in space... then there's the problem
of how were they going to get an astronaut over the edge to do the gluing
with no jet packs or robotic arm... another problem is that the tiles all
go together like a jigsaw puzzle... not with the lobes and such but that
each has a specific place and orientation... with over 20000 tiles on the
shuttle, which ones would you carry spares for? where would you store them?

)\/(ark