NEWS: Engineers Suspect Foam Hit Shuttle Wing During Liftoff - ABC News

Engineers Suspect Foam Hit Shuttle Wing During Liftoff

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Shu...tory?id=987399

July 28, 2005 — NASA analysts suspect at least one piece of foam did
in fact hit the wing of the space shuttle Discovery as it took off on
Tuesday, ABC News has learned.

Engineers had believed that the foam did not strike Discovery, but new
analysis has led them to suspect at least one small piece of foam did
hit the shuttle's wing, leaving what engineers described as a scuff
mark.

Video taken of Discovery's liftoff on Tuesday showed a piece of foam
broke away from the fuel tank but then fell clear of the craft without
striking it. Foam debris damaged the tiles of the shuttle Columbia on
its ill-fated final journey in 2003.