Shuttle foam issues (again)

Why is it, it only took six years of a ten year mandate to put a man on the moon yet it took three years almost to the day to unsucessfully modify a foam installation system that has never performed as designed. Has the NASA psyche finally succumbed to the mantra, "we've been doing it wrong for so long, why change now?"

Hey, maybe I'm just not a "rocket Scientist" but is seems to me, that if the foam keeps breaking off and hitting the leading edge of the 'wings' on the shuttle, why don't they put some kind of temporary armor (say KEVLAR) on them that could be jettisoned once all of the foam was gone? I tend to agree with you about the "Well, heck, if we can't fix it, just ignore it and hope for the best" mantra. LocTest Chris

why don't they put a kevlar net over the foam like chane link fencing on a rock slope to stop rocks from falling on a roadside.

I wonder what it would be worth from NASA in $'s for someone to have a solution to cure this problem?

None thought the Suttle could be the only final solution ! . May be the Shuttle does work or doesn't. May be another space ship has to be built, it's our future it's part of the adventure. If it is defective, our work will improve it. The 90's Shuttle can end in a coffin, not the research. Manned space exploration has to go on.

I agree with giuseppe. We seem to have wired into our behavior the wonderful desire to explore. If that stops in our collective id, our gains in space and exploration in general will stop. That would not be either good for individuals, this country, or the world. Whatever the outcome of this one shuttle, it should not slow down the effort to continue the quest of manned space. Unmanned for the things a robot can do, and manned for those things the robot cannot do, such as constructing the fanstastic International Space Station. Unless we can succesfully build, man, and maintain the ISS we cannot proceed with further manned space explorations.