Although not conclusive, and I’m sure it will not be for some time to come, it is looking more and more like foam, or some other debris came off the ET and struck Columbia’s left week causing enough damage to lead to the loss of the ship and crew. So, assuming this is the case, what is the fix? What can can be done to the foam on the ET so it will not come off during flight. Is there a design flaw, or a process flaw on the application of the foam? Is it possible to do some sort of inspection, or x-raying, or some other process to assure the foam is applied correctly. Is there something that can be done otherwise to protect the shuttle's tiles during launch? Is there a coating that can be applied to the foam to hold it to the tank, making sure what ever they do it doesn’t make it worse? The original ETs used on STS-1 and STS-2 were painted white. I wonder if that helped hold the foam to the tank. I know they stopped painting the ET because it served no purpose and added considerable weight to the tank, but maybe not. These are just a lot of questions I’m throwing out. I don’t necessarily subscribe to any of them.