Attention conspiracy buffs!
“How could the best shuttle in our fleet not make a routine landing on a perfect weather day following a liftoff and mission routine that was completely trouble free.
My theory is that the chemical laser was tracking the shuttle as part of an SDI test, which everybody knows the Administration is obsessed about. NASA probably did not even know about it, and so didn’t know to tell the Defense Department about the tiles that fell off one wing at liftoff.
This allowed enough extra energy to build up in the shuttle (because of the tracking laser), that in addition to the reentry friction, a catastrophic structural failure resulted.”
Link, then click “NASA and Columbia”