[bonesmccoy]

The WFAA home video from Arizona was interesting.

The object that separated from the orbiter was sufficiently large to create a large glowing plume.

That is not a tile. Tiles wouldn't create such a plume.

It's structure.

[Jim Noble]

>>It's structure<<

elevon?

[r9etb]

That is not a tile. Tiles wouldn't create such a plume. It's structure.

I tend to agree. IIRC, that particular piece also stayed fairly close to the Shuttle for quite a while, meaning it had a similar ballistic coefficient -- which implies it must have been fairly massive.

The obvious question then would be: what?

My first guess would be the left landing gear door.