[Normal4me]

I worked as a mechanical tech for Morton Thiokol in 1987 (post challenger) and spent my last days there working with the External tank crew. The insulation on the tank is very similar to the expandable foam that you can buy at a builders center. It is sprayed on the surface and is VERY sticky. I find it hard to believe that it could "fall off" the tank.

More than likely it may have been a piece of ice caused by the loading of liquid oxygen through the "beanie" at the top of the external tank.

It is obviously a break up of the air frame (ie structural failure) but until they locate and examine the debris, no one will know what happened.

~nomad

[LoneGOPinCT]

Thanks nomad. I really don't know anything about it, just what I get from the TV (which we all know how reliable that is).

[GOPJ]

Nomad, how dangerous is the debris field? Any chemicals we haven't heard about? What's the most likely cause of an explosion?

I worked as a mechdebreanical tech for Morton Thiokol in 1987 (post challenger) and spent my last days there working with the External tank crew. The insulation on the tank is very similar to the expandable foam that you can buy at a builders center. It is sprayed on the surface and is VERY sticky. I find it hard to believe that it could "fall off" the tank. More than likely it may have been a piece of ice caused by the loading of liquid oxygen through the "beanie" at the top of the external tank. It is obviously a break up of the air frame (ie structural failure) but until they locate and examine the debris, no one will know what happened. ~nomad