Interupted airflow over a damaged wing/tile area at 500mph, damage initially assessed maybe as ok at the time. But then the shuttle, while still in the atmosphere accellerates through the sound barrier and and upwards through lower mach numbers, the airflow into the damaged area would have increased and possibly removed more of the tiles as it accellerated. Aerodynamics engineers, surely you could shed some light about the forces inflicted on the shuttle after its impact. Could a larger area of damage been caused by the disrupted airflow after the initial impact/damage.
The question of shuttle costs v scientific value has been covered enough. If companies want to pay, let them, I for one have yet to see this vehicle in operations and would dearly like to experience viewing a launch.