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The crew of the second post-Challenger flight lifted off on December 2, 1988 after a one day delay due to high altitude winds. During the launch, a piece of the Solid Rocket booster's insulation fell off and hit the starboard side of Atlantis, damaging over 700 heat resistant tiles. Due to the classified nature of the mission, mission control had encrypted television coverage and therefore viewed the damage as streaks and shadows, despite the concern of the crew, who had a better view of the overall damage. According to shuttle Commander Robert "Hoot" Gibson, "We hung the robot arm over the right wing, we panned it to the damage location and took a look and I said to myself, 'we are going to die.'" It was certainly a close call that had the potential to bring the shuttle program to an early end. Want more? Check out the channel for more awesome Space Shuttle footage!