Free Republic

— Investigators now have the strongest evidence yet that the space shuttle Columbia's left wing was critically punctured during liftoff, when falling debris started the fatal chain of events that led to the breakup of the shuttle when it re-entered Earth's atmosphere, ABCNEWS has learned. The evidence comes from an old magnetic tape recorder that is part of the Orbiter Experiment Support System, sources said. It shows an unusual temperature increase in a key sensor just behind the leading edge of the left wing near the spot where foam that fell from the shuttle's external fuel tank is suspected of...

See entire article, but this little tidbit is interesting "A U.S. official also told Miklaszewski that a heat spike appeared on military satellite data around the time shuttle was reentering - it is being examined to see if it correlates to the shuttle and it breaking up. The highly-sensitive infrared satellite, known as the DSP, originally was developed to detect the heat spike of Soviet ICBM launches. As ground controllers gained familiarity and confidence in its capabilities, it has been used to detect everything from oil fires to volcanic eruptions the the explosion of TWA 800 in 1996."