? But we have cameras to see .... Let's say if the leading edge of the left wing took a hit! BTW sound familiar!! Hey why not just Fix the damm problem?
Fixing the problem requires a new vehicle. The foam is required to insulate the Shuttle ET, and TPTB won’t allow the use of the better foam. Does that suck?
Yes. It. Does.
NASA has scrubbed away as much foam as they think they can off of the tank in areas prone to sloughing off, and as a result of this strike event, they’ll modify the tank assembly AGAIN. You say “fix the problem” - the fix requires iterative testing through launch at this point. Analysis didn’t predict this, or did not predict it with a high probability, but reality shows differently. So the tank will be “fixed” in the suspect area. Sometimes, there is no substitute for flight testing, and that is what this amounts to. The analytical “fixes” for the foam shedding has picked up the obvious problems and addressed them.
My objection to your line of thought is that you are embarrassed by something that ONLY the US can achieve at this time. Is it a perfect, IMMACULATE achievement? No. NOTHING IS. It is a gov’t progam, and WILL ALWAYS be bent to political needs.
It is still a wonderful thing, though there is significant risk.
A lot of the risk is reduced or eliminated in the new spacecraft system, but it is still in development. Until it deploys, Shuttle is the way to orbit for this sort of work.
I find your embarassment to be embarassing.