[Cold Heat]

But the photos of the foam striking the wing during lift-off show the foam striking farther out on the wing. This makes me tend to agree with NASA's decision to keep looking rather than settle for the foam damage explanation.

Well worth repeating, over and over again.

I concur and have viewed and studied the loop. It looks like it hit the back side at a narrow angle(maybe 2 or 3 degrees.)

It definitely hit toward the center of the wing span, and at a relatively low speed, contrary to many. (maybe 100MPH)

If this is correct, the new pics indicate that the foam did not damage the craft.

[Fitzcarraldo]

It definitely hit toward the center of the wing span, and at a relatively low speed, contrary to many. (maybe 100MPH)

If this is correct, the new pics indicate that the foam did not damage the craft.

If something hit the leading edge hard enough it could flex the wing and cause it to crack somewhere else along the edge.

[#3Fan]

It definitely hit toward the center of the wing span, and at a relatively low speed, contrary to many. (maybe 100MPH)

I disagree completely. The shuttle was doing, what, around mach 4. That's ~3000 mph. That means the "wind" was going by at 3000 mph. The external tank is 154 ft. long so let's say the foam/ice was accelerated by this 3000 mph wind for 100 ft. It would be going much faster relative to the shuttle wing than 100 miles per hour, especially if it only weighed 2.5 lbs. and had all that surface area. Whether ice or foam, the impact would be significant. If it was ice then just a few mph would be enough to cause enough damage to bring down the shuttle. If it was foam, then the high relative speed may have been enough to cause significant damage.