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from space shuttle columbia as columbia continues to orbit the earth at an altitude of about 150 statute miles. columbia, houston, laurel, you're loud and clear on air to ground one. -the second day, i drive in to work kind of euphoric because another launch, another successful launch. you know, the flight director's office and the mission control center in houston is working with them. they're -- everything's good. i walked into the analysis lab to start reviewing film from the launch. we started the film at the beginning. [ rockets roaring ] we're watching this liftoff. you see the...

It's really hard to tell if anything bad had happened. i mean, this is insulating foam. it's lightweight. -so the orange, um, is the external tank which is covered in foam on the outside. -it's carrying cryogenically cold liquid oxygen and hydrogen, and it's going to sit out on the launch pad in the sunshine in florida. you don't want that to start boiling off, so over the outside of the tank there is this spray-on insulating foam. cheap, very effective. but it's got this property that, as you go through supersonic flight in the atmosphere, bits of it come. -the question is how bad of shape is...

People came to me as a Flight Director or as manager every day. In this case, Bob Page knocked on my door, came in my office, and said. Weve got a problem. This is the largest strike of the vehicle that we have ever seen. Hes a little bit of a highenergy guy, so it wasnt unusual, i didnt think. But he had a little Video Clip that he showed me. Its really hard to tell if anything bad had happened. I mean, this is insulating foam. Its lightweight. So the orange, um, is the external tank which is covered in foam on the outside. Its carrying cryogenically cold Liquid Oxygen and hydrogen, and its g...