Shuttle Discovery Mission?

Link
Every Shuttle flight has a Mission with stated objectives. I have no idea what this Mission's objectives are, but by observing behavior we might get a clue. So far they have replaced a gyroscope, examined the surfaces of the Shuttle for damage, practiced repairing tiles in space and today they are going to actually repair some protrusions on the surface of the underbelly of the Shuttle. NASA managers decided Monday, after many hours of deliberations and complex mathematical calculations, to attempt the repair after the analysis showed the protrusions might produce excessive heat during re-entry and threaten the spacecraft.

According to CNN, Andy Thomas, another member of the Discovery crew, acknowledged that the crew had initial "misgivings" about the repair, scheduled to take place during Wednesday's scheduled spacewalk. "We were concerned about the implications of it and what was motivating it," he said. "However, it's a lot better...(to) remove this material."

It seems to me that at much expense to get the Shuttle back up into space after a 2-year delay from the tragedy of the Shuttle spacecraft killing the crew, this seems like an incredible blunder by NASA. We are spending too much time on just getting up there and figuring out how to come back to earth safely. This Shuttle needs to be scuttled and abandoned after this flight is complete. We have wasted too much money in an ever-deep sinkhole. Think about the minimal costs by comparison of the two Mars probes and the great achievement of this adventure with no risk of human life. No worry about how we have to fix the craft for reentry or worry for the safety of the crew during launch.

There is a time for sending humans into space to explore. But overall, this Shuttle program has been a disaster and I say this with great sadness having worked for years on the Heat Shield of the Apollo. We are spending more time focused on the craft than the exploration mission itself.

Someone of courage and stature needs to suggest the permanent grounding of this Shuttlecraft.