[Aaron0617]

I though NASA said there wasn't one.

Thats what I heard. But it makes sense there would be one on board.

While data continously downloads from the shuttle to the NASA computer where does that data go during a blackout? The blackout that occurs when shuttle reenters the atmosphere (or is that stratosphere?).

[Cold Heat]

They really do not suffer from the blackout problem any more. Sometimes the audio is affected and they switch to a different system and antennae. It has more to do with the location of the satellite.

We did not have satellites in the old days, and hence the blackouts when the capsule was surrounded by plasma from re-entry heating.

[Boundless]

> ... where does that data go during a blackout?

There aren't any Apollo/Gemini/Mercury-style LOS (loss of signal)
episodes anymore, because there is now a constellation of TDRS
comm sats, and they time the re-entry so that at least one of
them is visible to the orbiter inside the plasma cone.

VHF to ground is still subject to plasma blackouts, but isn't
the only voice comm anymore.

Having said that, however, there are "dropouts", due to the orbiter
tail obstructing the signal at times, and other reasons.

And an unsolved issue on STS-107 is that there were more dropouts
than usual, and this is not understood. Vaporized aluminum in
the plasma stream is one theory, but it has problems.