[csvset]

...pics of the orbiter that were taken by the AF while it was up

Hmmmm...... the question "couldn't they have taken a photo of Columbia while it was in orbit" came up early in this tragedy. Several posters derided anyone who brought that subject up.

[Cold Heat]

News people asked that question. The answer was that the detail would not be helpful to assess the damage.

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks for the ping. What's interesting is that the normal config is shuttle bay exposed toward earth, tail forward. If these photos show a different config it says four things. They had to reconfig to take the photos. NASA's plausible denial of knowing photos were taken is bogus. NASA has been lying about their initial assessments of the damage from the insullation. NASA's overall trustworthyness has just plumeted to that of Bill Clinton.