SUMMARY: As predicted earlier in the week by Columbia accident investigators when a chunk of foam was fired at an actual space shuttle wing, it caused visible and significant damage. The foam was fired from a special pressurized gun at 234 metres per second, and when it struck the wing, it created a 7.5 centimetre crack in the carbon-fiber wing, and damaged several important T-seals. The test wing had actually been flown on space for 30 missions, so the experiment provided useful evidence to support the theory that foam damaged Columbia's wing so that the shuttle couldn't survive re-entry.

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