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How much loss of vehicle and two years of fleet grounding cost compared to fixing an obvious problem? And now, they are overcautious over every detail, but the problem that brought Columbia down is still there...

What is obvious now was not obvious in the past. They knew something wasn't right, but the consequences weren't known. So they took steps to minimize them, and eventually it bit them. Its easy to say something is obvious after a 28 month investigation leading to a 248 page report (for volume one - volumes two through six add on to it).

As for the problem still existing, the plant (Michoud Assembly Facility) that is responsible for the foam, is in the process of getting it's ass kicked. There was an article about how pissed NASA is at them a few days ago, but I can't find the link. I did find a CNN article that alludes to it, though.

Edit: Misspelled a word
- Tim