Boeing has oversight on this program. A month before the last flight, the Boeing people in CA that have been doing the risk/damage assessment and management since right after the Challanger crash were laid off. In a cost cutting move, the work was assigned to the Boing people in TX with no experience. Just before the CA people were laid off, a manager went around with a clip board and asked them what the TX people should know. Duh. This is not unique to Boeing, but a corporate trend that people are just numbers with no unique skills or knowledge. Replace the older guys (and gals) with fresh out of school (read cheaper) people.
Even if they had known about the damage, I'm not sure they had a alternate way to get the crew home safely. There was no other shuttle ready to go.
