Re:Design vs. Function? (Score 1)

White material reflects light and heat, the black tiles absorb it. This allows the ship to deal with the extremes of spaceflight and reentry. The aerodynamics of a reentry vehicle are even more limited than the choice of colours. Though I should note that IF they had other colours available to them, they likely wouldn't go for it, if only because we've become so accustomed to seeing the familiar black-on-white colour scheme of NASA's shuttle that it makes most sense to emulate it from a PR perspective: "look, it's totally obvious what this does!"