>Earlier thread said that the Deorbit went perfectly (NASA statement, 819AM)
Re: 1009
Right, the deorbit burn itself went as planned. That suggests that whatever occurred didn't manifest itself until Columbia began to enter the upper atmosphere. More info at this link:
http://www.floridatoday.com/journal/020103landing.htmI'll assume that there were some critical tiles missing from liftoff, causing the spacecraft to burn up on reentry.