The two items that were seen coming off the Orbiter on launch were called "Tyvek Covers" and came off as planned.
Image of the covers separating here. I can't remember exactly what they were covering, some sort of vent I think, but that is what was seen.
There was a birdstrike on the External Tank on take-off too, from the briefing the bird hit the nosecone and then went down the side of the ET away from the Orbiter. Picture
here. The stack had not fully cleared the launch pad so the speed was relatively low.
A
small piece of tile may have separated just behind the nosegear doors. Picture
here.
Finally, when the Solid Rocket Boosters separated a piece of debris was seen to float away and miss the Orbiter. Picture
here.
At the press conference broadcast yesterday afternoon the NASA guys were saying that this is all new stuff, they have never before had such detailed pictures of the launch and they will be sifting through it all methodically. Numerous press questions about repair, rescue missions, were all rebuffed and responded to with a "we'll be looking at this for 6 days, no point in panicking yet" attitude, it all came across well.
These debris events (and more I'm sure) have probably been occuring for all Shuttle missions, its just now they have technology in place to identify and hopefully reduce the amount of debris further still.
Good luck to all at NASA and the Crew, here's to a safe return
