[deport]

You are assuming they knew they had a problem withing the 80 seconds....... where do you have that assumption documented?

[Tennessee_Bob]

Here's a quote:

The day after Columbia’s launch, engineers reviewed videotapes of the shuttle’s ascent and spotted what appeared to be a chunk of the foam, breaking off and hitting the shuttle.

Hmmm....wonder what his answer will be?

[Mitchel Tighe]

Even if it was after the 80 seconds, they still had options. Go read NASA's url. It's their's, not mine!
Thanks

[Jael]

Tomorrow I will look for the link, but I have a quote where the NASA guy is saying "We saw it at 80 seconds and we looked at it again 12 days later.

I'm sure he didn't mean they didn't look at it again until 12 days later, but I do take that to mean they saw it when it happened.

Everything is so monitored at these lift offs.

[slimer]

You are assuming they knew they had a problem withing the 80 seconds.......

That's right. According to the reports I've read, Nasa did not notice the debris coming of the Shuttle and hitting the wing until HOURS after liftoff. The Shuttle was already in orbit when they reviewed a frame by frame recording of the liftoff and discovered the debris that came loose at the 80 second point after launch.

Prior to that review there was never any indication or reason to consider aborting the mission and by then it was too late.