Our Apollo 13?

Good evening to all,
hope your weekend has been a good one.

"Houston, we have a problem", (and the problem appears to be an aging, fragile, and problematic space shuttle) not since those words were first uttered in the 1970's, by the crew of Apollo 13, have we witnessed such a problem filled space mission. The launch of the Discovery was to have been a celebrated occasion commemorating America's returning to space, as well as an exhibition of improvements in the shuttle launch system safety protocols. However, the launch of the shuttle seemed rushed, especially as the shuttle had parts falling off when being lifted into a launch pad position, tile breaks as a result of the falling cockpit window retainer ring, all of which were fixed but still should have raised red flags to the fragile condition of the Discovery orbiter. Couldn't they have used one of the slightly newer shuttles? Maybe Endeavour or Atlantis? Though I don't believe those would be much better. Imagine this, your desktop computer (even if you got the $299 special offer) has more computing power than the transistor driven computers on the space shuttle. Yikes! We as the United States of America, pride ourselves as being originators of technological marvels, however we would choose to allow some of our bravest, (and I regard anyone who would willingly choose to fly into space in a 20 something year old spacecraft as brave), to stake their lives on obsolete technology? Most of us don't even have cars that old, and those of us who do, know what the wear and tear of years can do. I found a few things troubling about the Discovery mission, the 7 astronauts were essentially forced to spend all their space time searching the shuttle for problems, actually finding more potential problems than should have been on a shuttle that had 2+ years to iron out problems. Increased safety protocols? That went out the window when they simply unplugged a sensor that delayed a launch due to a faulty display, and launched a week later. The cockpit wondow retainer ring that fell off while the shuttle was being moved into launchpad position, we can see the quality of repair, as the exposed portion of thermal blanket appears to be sticking out from the site of that repair. What was most difficult to consider, was the amount of apparent stress heaped on the crew as they were seemingly forced (by all the problems) to ponder the fate of the Columbia crew that preceded them, I heard a transmission from the Discovery crew where they paid tribute to the Columbia crew, and thought I heard a level of sadness and concern in their words. I saw a video transmission from the Japanese astronaut aboard the shuttle, where he spent alot of time waving goodbye after playing a song on his piano keyboard he took along on the mission, the song appeared to be "Nearer My God to Thee", though he played just a short portion of the song, if that was the song he played, it was coincidentally the song also played by the ship's band who went down with the Titanic. It's just sad to think that those seven brave souls should have to be put under that much stress and worry, not to mention their families, and not to mention everyone else who would sure hate to see anything happen to the astronauts, imagine how they must feel having to re-enter the atmosphere in that thing, knowing that future shuttle missions have been cancelled due to problems that arose on their mission. Since NASA cleared the shuttle for re-entry and landing (beginning at 3am Central time early Monday morning), they better be certain the crew will be OK. I know that some will say "with space exploration comes a certain degree of risk", but I'm not talking about a regular level of expected risk, I'm ranting (and I apologize for the rant, it's just that the Columbia accident was troubling to watch and I'd hate to see anything like that happen again) about needless risks, rushes to judgement, and lackluster performance by NASA administration. I didn't much like the excuses from last time, and I sure wouldn't want to hear them again either. I called this latest segment "Our Apollo 13", because like the Apollo 13 mission, it was plagued with problems, and only then seemed to gain the attention of the news media. It's such a shame that so many missions have gone by with just a minor acknowledgement by the press, when those riding the rocket are putting themselves in potential peril on their journeys, all the while wearing the stars and stripes on their sleeves and going in the name of our country. May God speed the astronauts home, safely to their families and those who care for them. What do you think about the Discovery mission or the shuttle? I'd sure like to know how all of you might feel about this.