No, they can be used anytime they happen to be under the flight path.
No, they can be used anytime they happen to be under the flight path. Sorry, you're right of course - but I wasn't clear: the point I think Jael was making was in the ability of the shuttle to do an emergency landing prior to getting into orbit -- and thus incurring the necessity an atmospheric re-entry. In any case, it's Real Clear that nobody was gonna decide in the first 5 minutes of this flight that such a plan might have been needed.
Mr. Jamieson, I have been reading your very informative posts on these threads and just wanted to say thanks for the information you have provided.
I was wondering if you had time to look at these two reports and comment?
http://ltp.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/journals/katnik/sts87-12-23.html
"Damage numbering up to forty tiles is considered normal on each mission due to ice dropping off of the external tank (ET) and plume re-circulation causing this debris to impact with the tiles. But the extent of damage at the conclusion of this mission was not "normal."
The pattern of hits did not follow aerodynamic expectations, and the number, size and severity of hits were abnormal. Three hundred and eight hits were counted during the inspection, one-hundred and thirty two (132) were greater than one inch. Some of the hits measured fifteen (15) inches long with depths measuring up to one and one-half (1 1/2) inches. Considering that the depth of the tile is two (2) inches, a 75% penetration depth had been reached. Over one hundred (100) tiles have been removed from the Columbia because they were irreparable."
http://www.arnold.af.mil/aedc/newsreleases/1999/99-041.htm
"According to NASA, during several previous Space Shuttle flights, including the shuttle launched Nov. 29, 1998, the shuttle external tank experienced a significant loss of foam from the intertank. The material lost caused damage to the thermal protection high-temperature tiles on the lower surface of the shuttle orbiter."