One blurry image from an Air Forcetracking station in New Mexico, taken about a minute before the shuttle disintegrated, shows what some observers have interpreted as a jagged leading edge on the left wing.
At the time, top Air Force officials said the U.S. had the capability of closely tracking and issuing pre-collision warnings for only a couple of hundred pieces of orbiting debris.
After closely tracking the Employment Cost Index for a quarter-century, compensation levels in the All Volunteer Force exploded over the last ten years.