[djf]

There was a still photo broadcast yesterday that showed damage on a previous flight, where it had lost a number of tiles. Burned about an 8-12 inch hole into the infrastructure. Don't know if it was Columbia or not.

[Cold Heat]

I believe that was ST86. It had about 108 damaged tiles but still landed. This is when they discovered the insulation problem. They have had the crew photograph the tank on separation ever since.

They changed the tank design shorty after to the light tanke. This tank that they flew the other day was one of two remaining heavy tanks in inventory.

It seems to me that many things may have contributed to the shuttles demise. Not just the insulation drop.

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

ABC this morning (I know, I know) had a guy on who showed the tiles - showed that they are actually stacked one on top of another and then on the "pad" that is glued to the frame. The design is so that if the tile is hit, the top half will break off without major damage to the "under" tile or frame. The dangers are that something could break off the under tile as well as the upper tile or could actually break off the "pad" and leave the bare frame open to the heat. The metal of the frame melts at 900 degrees in a 2000 degree environment - not good. (He said). There have been other shuttles in which both top and under tile came off and a "burn through" occurred but the key was WHERE that happened - not in a critical place before. Also, the video of the insulation foam indicates the tiles could have been struck near or next do the wheel well "door" - which, if it came off in flight - would be catastrophic. But he did not know if this is what happened. A key question obviously is what is that piece that separated in this early video.

One other mention was made by the ABC reporters that NASA does have film from satellites of the shuttle over but these have been "classified" and not released to the public.