NBC: Space Shuttle Challenger: Evidence hints that astronauts were alive during fall

[China]

Chapter 5: An eternity of descent

Evidence hints that astronauts were alive during fall

By Jay Barbree

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The water was murky, swirling from surface winds, keeping divers Terry Bailey and Mike McAllister from seeing more than an arm’s reach in front of them. They had been diving for days, recovering Challenger’s debris, and, now, on this dive, they had only six minutes left in their tanks.

They were about 100 feet down, moving across the seafloor, when they almost bumped into what at first appeared to be a tangle of wire and metal. Nothing that unusual, nothing they hadn’t seen on many dives before.

Then, they saw it. A spacesuit, full of air, legs floating toward the surface. There’s someone in it, Terry Bailey thought.

No, that’s not right, he admonished himself. Shuttle astronauts do not wear pressurized spacesuits during powered flight. They wear jumpsuits. They carry along two pressure suits if they should be needed for a repair spacewalk.

He turned to his partner, Mike McAllister. They just looked at each other and thought, “Jackpot.” This is what we’ve been looking for. The crew cabin.

Low on air, the two divers made a quick inspection, marked the location with a buoy and returned to their boat to report the find.

A cabin intact

Early the next morning, the USS Preserver recovery ship put to sea. The divers began their grim task of recovering the slashed and twisted remains of Challenger’s crew cabin and the remains of its seven occupants.

On first inspection, it was obvious that the shuttle Challenger’s crew vessel had survived the explosion during ascent. A 2-year-long investigation into how the crew cabin, and possibly its occupants, had survived was begun.

A portion of the side hatch area on the space shuttle Challenger's crew compartment is pulled from the Atlantic in January 1986

...

But even if the crew cabin had survived intact, wouldn’t the violent pitching and yawing of the cabin as it descended toward the ocean created G-forces so strong as to render the astronauts unconscious?

That may have once been believed. 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.

That is when they died — after an eternity of descent.

Click on the link for the full article

[Hazel-Ra]

Man, that's dark...

[DeanCollins]

that's freaky teaky.

[Mad Mike]

Man that's rough to hear. Good or bad, I don't know. It sucks to know you are going to die but maybe they had a chance to make peace with it and think of their loved ones one last time. All we can do is remember them for their skill and courage, and thank them for their sacrifice.

But there is one "bright spot" we can take from this. Maybe with this knowledge, future designs will include a more survivable cabin that can bring astronauts home safely even when all else fails.

RIP

[PCS]

Oh man. That's just downright chilling right there.

[FanboyOf91]

There goes my appetite.

[Zguy28]

Oh man. That's just downright chilling right there.

Read the next chapter. :shudder:

[PCS]

Read the next chapter. :shudder:

I did.

Standing in his oceanside condominium, Overmyer turned away to stare at where his friends had crashed with great speed into the sea. “They were alive,” he said softly. “They were alive.”

[DC_Skins]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0V-ZRNzMWc&feature=related

Proof of cabin intact video.

[Teller]

I didn't need to know this. I remember trying to justify this in my own mind as a kid, by thinking, "Well, at least they didn't feel anything." Looks like they knew all too well what happened. Ugh.

[HighOnHendrix]

I have always just assumed this was the case, despite what so-called experts were saying in the interim. Another NASA safety fail. Had the crew cabin been equipped with an ejection system or some type of parachute system for the entire cabin, lives may have been saved. When this happened I was in grade school, we were watching it live in our class because of McAuliffe. Several of us were wondering afterwards as we discussed what had happened why they couldn't have jumped out with parachutes or something. If little kids can think of it, why can't NASA? It would be smart if they had an extra shuttle on stand-by to rescue astronauts in orbit if something goes wrong and re-entry is hazardous/impossible, a la Columbia.

[Corcaigh]

i thought this aspect of the tragedy was well known. But I'm not sure NASA could have predicted whether the cabin would be intact if the shuttle broke up violently and so knowing what safety systems would be available seems like speculation.

[HA1LV1CT0RY]

I thought this was already known.?

[PCS]

Widely speculated and debated,but I'm not so sure about "known."

[Perky72]

I have always just assumed this was the case, despite what so-called experts were saying in the interim. Another NASA safety fail. Had the crew cabin been equipped with an ejection system or some type of parachute system for the entire cabin, lives may have been saved. When this happened I was in grade school, we were watching it live in our class because of McAuliffe. Several of us were wondering afterwards as we discussed what had happened why they couldn't have jumped out with parachutes or something. If little kids can think of it, why can't NASA? It would be smart if they had an extra shuttle on stand-by to rescue astronauts in orbit if something goes wrong and re-entry is hazardous/impossible, a la Columbia.

So you're not one of those that wants to cut NASA funding, but instead wants to double it? Safety features are great and all, but NASA has/had a limited budget, and shuttes/rockets a limited payload. Plus the shuttles did perform rougly as expected safety-wise, there was a 1-2% (?) loss risk on every mission, and astronauts surely knew this and accepted that risk.

[81artmonk]

One wonders why if there was the explosion didn't they bail?? Or could they? Are there no measures to bail out in the event of catastrophic failure of the shuttle?

[PokerPacker]

I think I'd rather be blindsided by death. No chance for remorse.

[RedskinFeathers]

I think I'd rather be blindsided by death. No chance for remorse.

+1

Same here dude...I don't wanna sit there with time to think...

[cjcdaman]

One wonders why if there was the explosion didn't they bail?? Or could they? Are there no measures to bail out in the event of catastrophic failure of the shuttle?

There was no escape.

[mistertim]

One wonders why if there was the explosion didn't they bail?? Or could they? Are there no measures to bail out in the event of catastrophic failure of the shuttle?

I think the logistics of "bailing out" in any sense that high up in the atmosphere would be exceptionally complicated. Not like you can just jump and pull a chute that high up. Unfortunately there was probably pretty much nothing they could do.

[Fergasun]

Does this cast doubt on the Columbia investigation findings? Perhaps not...

[DCSaints_fan]

Yeah I heard that. I don't think bailing out is feasible. But it is interesting - if the cabin was "hardened" enough to withstand the explosion - why not give the whole thing a parachute like they did with the Apollo space capsules? This also might have been used for Columbia, although re-entry is obvioulsy little different (higher speeds)

[DCranon21]

One wonders why if there was the explosion didn't they bail?? Or could they? Are there no measures to bail out in the event of catastrophic failure of the shuttle?

During the first 2 minutes of the flight, there was no escape at the time, because of the solid rocket boosters firing. Unfortunately, they couldn't seperate from it.

[HighOnHendrix]

So you're not one of those that wants to cut NASA funding, but instead wants to double it? Safety features are great and all, but NASA has/had a limited budget, and shuttes/rockets a limited payload. Plus the shuttles did perform rougly as expected safety-wise, there was a 1-2% (?) loss risk on every mission, and astronauts surely knew this and accepted that risk.

Yes, I'd love to double NASA's budget. Cutting their funding is foolish and short-sighted. But that's beside the point. My argument was that more safety should have been built into the shuttle and their procedures from the beginning. Playing fast and loose was acceptable during the space race, but now it's just dumb and unnecessary. I know the astronauts accepted the risk (I would accept even more than that for the opportunity to do what they do - a chance I'll never have ) but why allow them to accept a risk they could have sidestepped to begin with? Maybe I'm completely wrong, but it seems like NASA's decision makers have been way too cavalier with the shuttle program.

[boobiemiles]

I thought they knew this back in 86'.