Space Shuttle

Perhaps I'm being overly sensitive in this overly sensitive age of ours, but I can't help but think NASA could have handled this whole space shuttle situation better. Here they blast these people into orbit and once they're up there, NASA frantically announce that OHMYGOD THE SHUTTLES ARE UNSAFE AND THEY MAY BLOW UP AND ANY SECOND AND WE'RE GROUNDING THEM FOREVER!!!
I mean, what are these poor astronauts supposed to think? Are they looking at each other, saying: "Unsafe?" "Grounded?" "Um. Like where does that leave us?"
Bummer. You're already skittish because of the unsatisfactory results of the last shuttle ad NASA goes Major Tom on you. Of course maybe the astros don't get the live CNN feed. Maybe NASA is, to their faces, telling them "Remain calm, all is well."
Or maybe they don't care. It just seemed like bad timing, is all.