Officials at the US space agency NASA have said it now appears that a piece of protective foam that fell from the space shuttle, Discovery, as it was launched may have struck the wing of the craft.
The officials say there is a difference of opinion within NASA about whether new photographic evidence confirms that there was an impact.
The commander of the shuttle, Eileen Collins, has conducted an interview from the spacecraft with US media.
'We were actually quite surprised to hear we had some large
pieces of debris fall off the external tank. It wasn't what we had
expected,' she said.
'Frankly, we were disappointed to hear that had happened. We thought we had this problem fixed,' Commander Collins added.
NASA is confident that Discovery will make a safe return, but the shuttle Atlantis is on standby for a rescue mission if needed.
