Ground control engineers had made three separate requests for high-resolution images taken by the Department of Defense that would have provided an understanding of the extent of the damage, while NASA's chief thermal protection system (TPS) engineer requested that astronauts on board Columbia be allowed to leave the vehicle to inspect the damage.
Inženjeri zemaljske kontrole izdali su tri odvojena zahtjeva za slike visoke rezolucije, snimljenje od Ministarstva obrane, koje bi mogle omogućiti jasniji uvid u opseg oštećenja, dok je NASA-in glavni inženjer toplinskog zaštitnog sistema (thermal protection system, TPS) zatražio dozvolu da astronauti na Columbiji napuste letjelicu radi ispitivanja oštećenih pločica.