The shuttle has reached orbit with no problems, as I reported yesterday; now, external examinations of the heat shields (using a remotely operated camera) show that everything seems to be ok with the ship, and that it should have no problems during landing.
In one of the few "comic relief" moments of the last weeks at NASA, officials reported that white markings found on the wings of the shuttle seem to be bird droppings, which were already there before the launch and are expected to burn on re-entry. It is entirely possible that bird droppings made it into orbit in previous flights as well, but they wouldn't be noticed; the shuttle usually sits on the pad for quite a while before launch, and it makes a very large target for birds. The only difference is that people are paying much more attention to the shuttle these days...
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