It is my fervent hope that we do not have another 18 month gap in flights while NASA investigates the failure. (Strictly speaking, I don't think they can do so, since we still have human beings up their in the International Space Station that will need refueling and replacement.) The astronauts all know that their job is dangerous, although their families might not see it that way.
I just hope this ends up being an unforseeable accident caused by a series of unlikely events, and not the result of incompetence or bureaucratic insistence. If the root cause was, in fact, stuff falling off of the external fuel tanks and damaging the wing, I suspect there are a number of good ways to solve that, including something as simple as a discardable shield to protect the delicate ablative surfaces during launch.
