Nothing unusual was noted during the checks before the flight took off, but the cowl doors would have been "difficult to see unless crouched down so that the bottom of the engine is clearly visible".
Five months ago, a large geographically focused opportunity presented itself, and we decided to rethink our entire approach to the sales process from top to bottom, including the use of search engine marketing (SEM).
Just after Discovery's engines fired, launch controllers noticed a small rectangular object drop from the bottom of the ship, carom off an engine bell and vanish into the exhaust flames.