I saw it in a of archive footage of stuff falling off when its about to take off. I saw it in the Apollo missions too. I always assumed it was paint chips because of the vibrations that are occuring. Is this correct?
Ice. Caused by the cryogenic fuels.
Killer of Shuttles.
What he said. In more detail, these huge tanks of liquefied gas are set up in the Florida humidity, so some frozen condensate can be expected. This was used as a plot device in Stowaway to the Moon, to explain a weight discrepancy in the about-to-launch Saturn 5.
Was that the primary buffer panel?
Foam did in the last one.
My understanding is that one of the theories behind the foam failure is that ice may have formed behind it:
From here.