[ironman]

"NASA totally denied any possibility of wing damage after the crash"

I don't believe that is a true statement.

[DoughtyOne]

There's a transcript of the original press conference around here somewhere, in which NASA officials did address the foam problem. They pretty well dismissed it. Then later they even went so far as to float a meteorite hit as an alternative theory.

[Erik Latranyi]

NASA director denied any possible link on the day of the accident stating that it was looked at and ruled impossible.

I even remember him stating that it was only a 2lb chunk of foam, so it could not cause any damage, etc.