No missile can travel at Mach 14. It is not a missile.
The left wing was damaged during launch by a piece of insulation foam that detached from the main fuel tank.
You have to wonder if the crew was instructed to do a space walk and do a damage assessment and send a video of the assessment back to Dallas. If this was done, you'd have to wonder what the results of any risk assessment were.
Was this previously reported? or just now being speculated?
I am, like all others here, struck with sadness and sickness over this. Willie McCool was in my company at the Naval Academy. This very likely marks the end of the Shuttle program and certainly will ground US manned space for the next several years. Spacestation construction is done, and without yet another expensive redesign, likely signals the end of further work on that program as well.
For those of us who have worked in the space business, for those who know any of the crew members, fellow astronauts, or their friends and families, and for anyone who has ever been inspired by the US manned space program, this is a terrible day. I can only hope we have the national fortitude to recover from this and develop a follow on program that will be properly funded and maintained to provide safe access to space in the future.