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tunamelts2 t1_ivvwvlx wrote

I think about those astronauts from time to time and how horrific those last few seconds must have been for them. They gave their lives in pursuit of a better future for all mankind.

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Acceptable-Print-164 t1_ivvzcj4 wrote

The worst part is that they didn't die until they hit the water and that some of them were trying to take action in the cockpit after the explosion.

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purl__clutcher t1_ivw24yi wrote

I watched it happen live on tv. Nobody could have survived that explosion.

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Acceptable-Print-164 t1_ivw3m4c wrote

I hear you, but they did. You can find plenty of resources online that talk more about it, short version is that the crew compartment was mostly intact until it struck the ocean.

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fd6270 t1_ivw434a wrote

It very likely happened.

>But that was before the investigation turned up the key piece of evidence that led to the inescapable conclusion that they were alive: On the trip down, the commander and pilot’s reserved oxygen packs had been turned on by astronaut Judy Resnik, seated directly behind them. Furthermore, the pictures, which showed the cabin riding its own velocity in a ballistic arc, did not support an erratic, spinning motion. And even if there were G-forces, commander Dick Scobee was an experienced test pilot, habituated to them.

>The evidence led experts to conclude the seven astronauts lived. They worked frantically to save themselves through the plummeting arc that would take them 2 minutes and 45 seconds to smash into the ocean.

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna3078062

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forkliftdancer t1_ivwsjf6 wrote

How utterly awful. Thank you for the link. I never looked into the investigation.

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Bocephuss t1_iw1j726 wrote

Pretty sure it’s was minutes of free fall.

But not to worry, this is a risk, albeit small, you take every time you get on a commercial airplane at 30k+ feet.

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