[Jack Black]

It appears from these messages it was burning up on reentry.

Looking at the large picture of the shuttle posted above I am unhappy. It looks worn and tired to my simple eyes. It's doesn't have the sharp look of a multi-million dollar bleeding edge program, does it. The Stealth or X-15 always looked loved. This looks like the equivelent of a farmers tractor, well used and patched to keep working. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. I know the challenger disaster exposed many problems in the command and control of NASA. It will be interesting if they have been fixed, or have reappeard and contributed to this horrible disaster.

[Frank_Discussion]

Hi Jack. Don't loose heart - You are probably looking at a post-landing, but pre-next-launch image of the shuttle. It does comeback covered in ashen smudges, and it highlights the joints between the tiles. The ships are always very clean at launch.

[TigersEye]

bttt