NASA not running an actual assessment after STS-27R was almost lost to a similar foam strike in 1988 is really the flabbergasting part. If that foam strike had

NASA not running an actual assessment after STS-27R was almost lost to a similar foam strike in 1988 is really the flabbergasting part. If that foam strike had been almost anywhere else on the wing, it would have resulted in the crew and vehicle being lost. But instead it punched a hole right where there was a double-thickness aluminum plate for an antenna mounting, and so didn't burn through. Columbia had a foam strike on the leading edge and wasn't so lucky.