[freepersup]

Your analysis has merit and is at the least, one of the leading contenders for what occurred.

Has there been any commentary on the explosive bolts ? An ignition brought on prematurely by plasma, resulting in the cargo door becoming breached, or some other wheel well damage set off by a dominoe effect ?

[bonesmccoy]

I brought up the issue of the explosives in the MLG bay about 200 posts ago. However, we have yet to hear anything from the press conferences on the temp limits for the MLG explosives. I'm wondering if those temp limits were surpassed over California (creating those temporary brightenings of the orbiter's magnitude as visualized by astronomers).