Come On Home

So the Space Shuttle will land on Earth a day earlier on the presumption that hurricane Dean may cause problems at Houston's Mission Control. It turns out now that Dean will probably make landfall far from Houston but what I'm worried about is the hole on Endeavour's belly caused by falling debris from the external fuel tank. The hole goes completely through the thermal tile to the felt fabric that covers the shuttle's aluminum frame. NASA engineers and managers say the shuttle is fine to land without making any repairs in space.




I don't understand why NASA would develop procedures and tools to repair damage like this after the Columbia disaster and then choose not to do it. Unless the procedures don't really work that is. Is this decision to cover up government ineptitude or bad management at NASA? This whole deal stinks like stinky cheese. I guess we'll find out if it was the right decision around 12:32 p.m. ET tomorrow.