Shuttle skin pierced during firey descent

The space shuttle Columbia’s skin was almost certainly pierced, allowing superheated air inside the left wing and possibly the wheel compartment during Columbia’s fiery descent through Earth’s atmosphere, investigators have said.

In its first significant determination, the accident investigation board announced last night that heat damage from a missing tile would not be sufficient to cause unusual temperature increases inside Columbia minutes before it disintegrated on February 1. Sensors detected an unusual heat build-up of about 30 degrees inside the wheel well before the accident.