Columbia Accident Investigation Board: Final Report

ssclift writes "After nearly 7 months the Columbia Accident Investigation Board has released its final report into the February 1st loss of the Shuttle Columbia and all 7 crew members. This is more than a technical assessment of the immediate causes of the accident. Once again, sadly, the world's flagship space agency gets a thorough and grim review. Press briefings will begin at 11:00 EDT along with a webcast."

Comments

Physics question about foam impact

[phidipides]

I've probably missed this somewhere, but the "smoking gun" that determined the accident was due to foam impact was a test wherey the fired a chunk of foam at hundreds of miles per hour at a wing section and then showed off the damage. What I'm missing is why the impact on the Columbia would have occurred at hundreds of miles per hour. The foam was a part of the shuttle, so it should have been moving at practically the same speed as the shuttle during the impact. It's not like the shuttle was going ridiculously fast and hit a stationary object.

Granted, the foam would have slowed due to friction with the air, but why hundreds of miles per hour? Can someone explain?