HOW THE CHALLENGER ASTRONAUTS DIED

The Challenger shuttle was not destroyed in an explosion. This is a
well-documented fact; see the Rogers Commission report, for example.
What looked like an explosion was fuel burning after the external tank
came apart.

The medical/forensic report by Joe Kerwin's team confirmed what was
already suspected for other reasons: at least some of the crew were not
only alive, but conscious, for at least a few seconds after the orbiter
broke up. The forces of the breakup were not violent enough for a high
probability of lethal injury, and some of the emergency-escape air packs
had been turned on manually.

However, unless the cabin held pressure -- which could not be determined
positively, but seems unlikely -- they almost certainly were unconscious
within seconds, and did not recover before water impact. They did not
have oxygen masks (the emergency-escape packs held air, not oxygen, for
use in pad emergencies) and the cabin apogee was circa 100,000ft.

The circa 200MPH water impact was most certainly violent enough to kill
them all. It smashed the cabin so badly that Kerwin's team could not
determine whether it had held pressure or not. Their bodies then spent
several weeks underwater. Their remains were recovered, and after the
Kerwin team examined them, they were sent off to be buried.

The Kerwin report was discussed in Aviation Week and other sources at
the time. World Spaceflight News printed the full text.