[finnman69]

Many more images here:
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-107/images/images.html

I thought this was interesting as there is no visible area of damage before launch.

[PrivateIdaho]

Those photos make it pretty clear that the "photo" being spread around, of a damaged wing taken in orbit, is totally bogus. It's obvious you can't get a photo of the wing from the crew compartment windows.

[Stefan Stackhouse]

I still think that there is a rush to judgment here. Even if the insulation did strike the tiles and did cause some damage, that could possibly only be coincidental. An orbital encounter with space debris remains a viable and unexplored hypothesis.

[VadeRetro]

I can't imagine the relevance here. The damage is assumed to have happened some miles up.

[RossA]

Notes on the launch damage to left-wing - for those who haven't seen it in launch photos.

In the second of the three pictures, you can see an orange tube from the lighter-orange fuel tank to the underside of the shuttle. I think this is the "bio-port" discussed at NASA press conferences; I need to look up what it is for...

Anyway, this tube no doubt goes its planned way before or during launch. This leaves a small yellow triangle on the fuel tank where it was attached. As the shuttle rotates this emerges from behind the shuttle and is visible. It is from the edge of this triangle that something falls off and strikes the left wing. You can just see the piece fall off -the size of the yellow triangle definitely increases. And a frame or two later, you see a large, extended smear of yellow where it hits the left-wing, probably on the underside.

[Jael]

"NASA knew from the second day of Columbia's 16-day research mission that a piece of the insulating foam on the external fuel tank had peeled off just after liftoff and struck the left wing, possibly ripping off some of the tiles that keep the ship from burning up when it re-enters Earth's atmosphere." http://www.washtimes.com/national/20030203-87326768.htm

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.

During the STS-87 mission, there was a change made on the
external tank. Because of NASA's goal to use environmentally
friendly products, a new method of "foaming" the external tank
had been used for this mission and the STS-86 mission. It is
suspected that large amounts of foam separated from the external
tank and impacted the orbiter. This caused significant damage to
the protective tiles of the orbiter."



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.

Although the AEDC Tunnel A tests did not replicate the in-flight failures, they did provide detailed measurements to better understand the flight environment and fundamental failure mode. From these tests, NASA determined the failure is caused principally by foam cell expansion due to external heating at approximately Mach 4 combined with pressure change and aerodynamic shear. Specialized miniature shear gages and other instrumentation were installed during the test to measure these forces."

[CyberAnt]

Hmmmm?? But I think the damage would have been UNDER the left wing (which you can't see) - precisely the seam of the wheel-well for the wheel gear.

If this proves to be true - it could mean that the explosion, which we could see on the video's, might have been when the tire heated up and exploded. With that explosion, the door of the wheel-well could have been blown off and left the whole shuttle exposed to the 2000-25000 degrees of heat then occuring during re-entry.

Then again - it could have been a dozen other things.

[OldFriend]

I see courage and american ingenuity!

[philman_36]

The woodpeckers caused it.
Following an extended Memorial Day weekend holiday, Shuttle workers discovered that Northern Flicker Woodpeckers at Launch Pad 39B had pecked about 200 holes in foam insulation on Discovery's external fuel tank. Some holes were as much as four inches deep.
Problematic little buggers.