re: Tiny pieces
Lots of strange news - every NASA TV feed ( and I've heard from some people that even via cable Nasa TV is a bit dead ) seems to be down...but
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=6563
This is a composite I've made of the ascent imagery - essentially a merge of about 1 seconds worth of frames expressed as a difference from one another.
Briefly, there was mention on NTV of a large ( mention of 4ft / 6ft / 8ft in size ) piece of thermal blanket ( used on non-critical parts of the vehicle ) drifting away
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts121/060704fossum/
It's going to be a busy, interesting flight.