[steveegg]

I want to know what the last communication with the shuttle was. Did they know they were in trouble?

Courtesy Moonman62 from the original thread (reply 214):

The last voice communications from the crew involved a tire pressure message. Communications were then garbled and static. Contact with the shuttle was lost at about 9 a.m. EST.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts107/status.html

The main gear is housed in the wing. According to CBS (Radio) News, a piece of the external fuel tank appeared to hit the left wing during launch. It seems plausible to me that these are related.

[rintense]

At what point do they lower the tires? I'd assume it was too soon. So, assuming the landing gear was retracted, the indication of loss of tire pressure *could* mean that the shuttle began to rip apart on the belly.