Jinn of Quality and Risk

Brian Carnell links to an analysis written by [senior] NASA engineer Gregory Katnik about damage sustained to the [Columbia] Shuttle's heat shielding tiles following the use of a newly formulated, freon-free insulation. The New York Times has more about the NASA risking astronauts' lives for the sake of environmentalist doctrine. Katnik found that, after the launch of STS-87, over 300 tiles on the Columbia space shuttle were damaged by "environmentally-friendly" break-away insulation. NASA later declared it was not a danger. 

It took Man 66 years to go from Kitty Hawk to the Moon, and in the 34 years since we have gone absolutely nowhere. A fitting tribute to the Challenger and Columbia astronauts will be a man stepping on Mars this decade, and using a space elevator for Earth-to-orbit trips instead of the space shuttle.