re: Repair Kit for Shuttle
Whatever, it will be interesting to see what they come up with. With a 16" hole I would envision an inflatable very tough bladder of some kind to insert into the hole. Inflate it and use it as backing for some sort of heat resistant material to be bonded in place. Perhaps a heat resistant bondo. Well its just speculation now.
I am struck though that we have lost one shuttle during launch, and one during entry. I hope someone is thinking of the possible scenarios for an in-orbit disaster, fire, explosion or something. There are lots of things that can go wrong in orbit.