The damage caused to the Discovery's heat tiles and indications of something peeling off its external fuel tank, both recorded by an onboard video camera occurring during the ship's hypersonic ascent to space, are not deemed flight safety issues of immediate concern to the Discovery at this time.
After a day of reviewing video and other data giving NASA engineers more information on the severity of the damage, and after the Shuttle completed a laser and digital video survey of the outside of the ship, NASA seemed confident that while the 1 1/2-inch chip in the aft clamshell door of Discovery's forward wheel well remained of interest, there was no need for measures to repair it. NASA also did not see an immediate flight safety issue with what appeared to be a piece of foam insulation that fell off the external fuel tank but cleared the orbiter.
Source of information: CBS Radio News (KNX-AM).
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