Frozen chunk of insulating foam about the size of a small suitcase broke off tank and struck wing just after liftoff, shattering several leading edge carbon/ceramic high temperature tiles. On reentry...
Foam fell from the external tank during the launch. The foam struck the shuttles wing on the leading edge and punched a suitcase sized hole in it. During the reentry, hot plasma rushed into the hole...
On blast off, a small piece of foam hit the wing, creating a small hole. On re-entry to the atmosphere the wing began to burn at that location due to hot gases getting in and a fire spread. This is...