In article at:

"http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts107/030825sts114/"

about planning for next shuttle flight, the following appears.

"(A) tile repair kit will be located at the back of the shuttle's
cargo bay and feature a panel of deliberately damaged heat shield
tiles. The spacewalkers will attempt to repair the tiles using
materials and procedures currently in the development stage.

"The work does not yet include any sort of repair demonstration
for reinforced carbon carbon panels making up the orbiter's wing
leading edges. While promising procedures are under study, it's
not yet clear whether any repair techniques can be developed in
time for a flight next spring."

How can NASA justify flying a space shuttle mission before an
RCC repair is available? Didn't CAIB just prove that damaged
RCC caused the Colombia failure?

- Ed Kyle