No messy silica heat tiles.

In each of the three prior missions with similar problems, a number of protective heat tiles were damaged, Mr. Counts said.

The heat tiles were made by Lockheed until 1996, when United Space Alliance took over their manufacturing at the Kennedy Space Center.

The report found the potential for "large" damage to the shuttle's thermal protection system, which consists of heat tiles, layers of thermal blankets and flame-retardant felt called Nomex.

On the space shuttles, O-rings got scorched, heat tiles fell off, foam insulation broke free.

The agency is still having trouble developing methods for repairing damaged heat tiles and the thermal-resistant carbon-fiber material on wing edges during a flight, members of the monitoring panel said.

He said on the 1997 mission the shuttle sustained a significant amount of damage to its heat tiles.

Six minutes later, it reported a buffeting underneath the left wing, perhaps from lost or damaged heat tiles, that required increasingly drastic corrections from the ship's computerized flight controls.

The reporters were all over us, snapping pictures, burning themselves on the heat tiles---7' "Any casualties?"

It was to use a new engine, high-tech carbon composites instead of aluminum for its fuel tanks and metallic heat tiles.