[couslee]

Even at 22 yrs old, one also has to take into account the number of flights. Things get old, things get worn out, and even tho they may pass a saftey test, under extreem situations they may still fail. I read somewhere (iirc) that the Challanger was on it's 11th or 12th mission already when it exploded on take off. Imagine how many trips have been made since then.

On a side note, the Columbia had a mission delayed for some reason, which caused the Challanged mission to be bumped back a few days. The fleet is old. Pleople don't even like 20 yr old cars esp with high milage because of the potential for problems.

It's time for a new shuttle fleet. And until they get the funding for that, I fear we may see other fatal failures become more often. (I hope not).

From Reuters:
"Columbia is NASA's oldest shuttle and first flew in 1981".
It does not say when it was built, most likely at least a year or more before it's maiden voyage. And look at the technological advances made since then.
From AP:
"On Jan. 16, shortly after Columbia lifted off, a piece of insulating foam on its external fuel tank came off and was believed to have hit the left wing of the shuttle. Leroy Cain, the lead flight director in Mission Control, assured reporters Friday that engineers had concluded that any damage to the wing was considered minor and posed no safety hazard."

NASA should take a hint from SEIV, and put a "repair bay" module on the ISS.