[bonesmccoy]

out of the box thinking is good.

Re: 51L, I never suspected range safety. The range safety explosives clearly were not implicated by watching the NASA TV video of the launch. SRM's were a known issue, regardless of what Jesse Moore confiscated in the first 24 hours after launch.

Don't you agree?

[snopercod]

I don't know who Jesse Moore is, or what he confiscated. I was on the C-9 console as the CISL for launch (my first), and knew absolutely nothing until after I got back to my motel and turned on CNN.

Then I cried.

[snopercod]

...and another thing.

I The range safety explosives clearly were not implicated by watching the NASA TV video of the launch.

I WAS watching NASA TV from the C-9 Console, and saw the boosters "separate" from the orbiter, and downlink from the shuttle go stale.

At that point, I had no idea what had happened. Neither did the entire firing room. We on the console were preparing for RTLS until the OTC [Roberta Wyrick] advised us otherwise.

If you are implying that the explanation of what had happened was obvious to those involved in the launch, you are ignorant of the history of that event.