Space Shuttle tile from Atlantis space-flown thermal tile

Space Shuttle Atlantis space flown heat shield tile

This is an actual space-flown black heat shield tile from the Space Shuttle Atlantis.
The thermal tile is coated with black RTV silicone and is from an older configuration of the upper body flap.
The black RTV was used to reduce damage from impingement
of incomplete combustion of the down-firing reaction control system (RCS) thrusters.

heat shield tile from Space Shuttle Atlantis, back view
This is the back side of the Space Shuttle tile.
The red stuff is RTV silicone that was used to glue the tile to the Shuttle.

flighthistory of space-flown heat shield tile
Check out the flight history of this Shuttle tile! It has been around the world 2499 times on 20 different missions!!!

Flight 19, mission STS 84, by the way, was the night launch filmed for Armageddon!
Which means I could also add this tile to the movie prop section. :-)

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