[Chad Fairbanks]

I believe we've seen eveidence presented here in previous threads (which I KNOW you read, so don't plead ignorance) that stated the odds of being able to see damage with a ground-based telescope would require the damage to be extensive... if it was a few tiles, it would not have been easily seen...

bottom line: if the damage was extensive enough to be seen by ground-based telescopes, it was extensive enough that the crew would already have been aware of the damage...

[Fred Mertz]

that stated the odds of being able to see damage with a ground-based telescope would require the damage to be extensive...

Don't put words in my mouth. I didn't use the term ground-based in my statement of query.