[ncmncm]

What makes it the more significant is that they launched 12 with no fix in place.

It doesn't reveal how they kept the astronauts' comments looking out the window secret. Weren't they broadcast live?

It seems like the fact of the SM and its fragments not falling behind must mean something important about hypersonic flight.

[Rooster61]

> Weren't they broadcast live?

Nope. Communications were split into multiple channels, all of which were monitored at the PAO, or Public Affairs Office console in mission control by a NASA official. It was deliberately designed so that the public only heard what NASA wanted them to hear.

[perlgeek]

> It doesn't reveal how they kept the astronauts' comments looking out the window secret. Weren't they broadcast live?

The plasma buildup around the vehicle interferes with radio communication -- though I'm not sure in exactly which phases of the reentry.

Or maybe the window orientation made that hard to see?