[El Gato]

The ground cameras at Vandenberg (where I worked) were used to check the shuttle heat tiles. We could do that before 1990, BTW.

Wasn't there a very early, maybe the first, shuttle flight where tile damage was suspected and they turned the oribter bottom side up, so that certain "national technical means" could have a look at it? That's a long time ago and the memory is fuzzy.

[RKV]

Yes there was, and I was there when they eyeballed it from the ground. Your memory isn't too bad.