I know NASA has made possible many of our advance technology some of them used also in medicine but honestly I think answers are closer than going out space. We live in 3d but there are more than 9 dimensions proven mathematically. Remember matrix? Something like that is more likely to be near and truth. Maybe "aliens" just cross dimensions what about that? So that is why going out there is a waste of time and money. Funny is we all die like animals do. We are dust. The smart dies like the dump
Every space mission has built-in risks, but this is was a different situation. From all reports, this crew had no knowledge of wing damage to the shuttle. NASA, however was fully aware of the extent of the damage and knew very well there was a strong possibility that the craft would come apart on re-entry. Should they have informed the crew? Would you have wanted to know that you were going to die?