[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]

mewzilla, totally agreed. This "well we couldnt fix it so why bother" line of responses is not helping this guy.

Sounds to me like he is feeling very guilty. His evasive responses, and broken logic is telling.

Does he really expect us to believe that they couldn't go out and look at the wing? Good grief.

I wonder, did the shuttle crew even get informed that a massive piece of insulation had broken off the launch tank and struck the left wing leading-edge?

[Cboldt]

I wonder, did the shuttle crew even get informed that a massive piece of insulation had broken off the launch tank and struck the left wing leading-edge?

I think the press conference included assertions that the astronauts were asked to photograph the launch tank as it departed the shuttle, to permit the development of technical solutions to the shedding of insulation. Also asserted was that this was not the first mission that shed insulation from the launch tank. If those facts are true, one could infer that the astronauts knew that insulation was shed from the launch tank, etc.