Shuttle Damaged One Day Before Launch

Sometimes, the stories just write themselves. The last time I'd refreshed my browser, the shuttle story was how we were less than 24 hours before the first launch in 2-1/2 years, and the only concern was the weather. What with that Hurricane that just whacked the Caribbean and SouthEast US a few days ago, and all, quite the concern.

But lo, I refreshed and see: "Space Shuttle Damaged on the Launch Pad"

"Holy crap!" I thought, wondering what could have possibly happened. Reading, we find out that a "window cover" came loose and damaged some heat tiles near the tail section. The killer line in the story:

"It was not immediately clear why the cover - which was held by tape - came loose."

Huh! Tape. Not rivets, or screws, or welds. Not even some kind of fancy "aeronautical-grade high-temperature adhesive strips". Tape. Yeah, it's not clear how something held on with tape could fall off.

From the article we are told that the damaged tiles could be replaced in an hour. Though it's not addressed in the article, I'm sure the technicians checked to make sure all the other goddamned taped-on and wedged-in parts were "pretty tight" and weren't about to fall off at any moment.

When NASA starts using technology similar to that found on beat-ass, 15-year-old, oil-burning Cavaliers with busted out windows, you know there's a problem, people.