The most important lesson, as always, is that you are not as smart as you think you are.
Until we can say we got this getting to space thing, spacecraft should be considered research vehicles and information on every single aspect of their operation has to be gathered. When the Columbia was lost, I was appalled nobody ever inspected the heatshield for damage occurred during lift-off after more than 100 flights. Even if you consider it dangerous (or too much work) to have an astronaut visually inspect it, this could have been done from the Mir space station.
Many spacecraft were lost to arrogance, to the false certainty we know what we are doing when, in fact, we are still learning.
Until we can say we got this getting to space thing, spacecraft should be considered research vehicles and information on every single aspect of their operation has to be gathered. When the Columbia was lost, I was appalled nobody ever inspected the heatshield for damage occurred during lift-off after more than 100 flights. Even if you consider it dangerous (or too much work) to have an astronaut visually inspect it, this could have been done from the Mir space station.
Many spacecraft were lost to arrogance, to the false certainty we know what we are doing when, in fact, we are still learning.