Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Originally posted by: LH
The leading theory is a meteorite or space debris hit the shuttle. Someone in California captured pictures of something that looked like a massive electrical storm engulfing the shuttle as it flew over california. There has been numerous times where the foam insulation has hit the wings on launch. And the 60 degree temp spike has happened twice before as well.
There is a video on azfamily.com over Arizona where they captured it when it looks like a piece of the left wing comes off the ship. The streak over California looks likes it's the hydraulics fluid being vaporized and leaving the trail.
I'm sticking with that there was a crack in the wing exposing it to the elements. When it hit the high velocity wind it simply sheared the wing off from that point out and then the ship's control tried in vain to correct to "drag" of losing half the left wing and then it just started coming apart. Not Rocket science.