It seems that the latest space shuttle mission which left the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on 11th May 2009, has hit a slight glitch. The lift off appeared to go quite smoothly, however, upon close examination of the lift off footage from one of the cameras mounted on the fuel tank, clearly show some debris hitting the underside of the shuttle.
The image showing debris hitting the shuttle undercarriage.
The damage on the shuttles ceramic tiles caused by the debris.
Thankfully, NASA spotted the debris, which occurred 102 seconds into the mission, and upon closer inspection located a 21 inch scratch in the ceramic tiles used as a heat shield during re-entry.
NASA engineers have analysed the images and determined the scratch to be located only on the surface on the tiles and not to be mission critical. However, they will be re-examining the damaged tiles later on in the mission following main mission directive.
The problem with damaged tiles is determining the extent of the damage from just a few images. Cracks and scratches in ceramic tiles become crack propagators during thermal expansion and contraction. Knowing the extend of the scratch will allow scientists to determine the probability of the crack causing catastrophic failure in the tile upon re-entry.
Thankfully, it seems in this case there does not seem to be a high risk associated with the damage. Another shuttle is on standby just in case a rescue mission is necessary. Fingers crossed people 