Fatal NASA Challenger Space Shuttle did not explode – the reality is even more shocking

The spacecraft infamously failed over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Florida, just 73 seconds after lift-off leaving five NASA astronauts, one specialist and a civilian school teacher dead. But it has emerged the hardened cabin almost certainly remained intact, only to hit the ocean at about 200mph almost three minutes later. Most experts believe lack of oxygen means the crew which survived the initial blast had almost certainly passed-out.

But others fear they may have survived and were conscious during the fateful descent.

Engineering expert David Cote told Q&A website Quora it was “very likely that some of the astronauts were both alive and conscious when the crew capsule struck the Atlantic ocean almost three minutes after their launch vehicle “exploded.””.

Around 17 per cent of the American population watched the launch on live television due to the presence of the high school teacher Christa McAuliffe, who would have been the first teacher in space.

READ MORE: Supermassive blackhole in centre of our galaxy according to Scientist

“That is far worse than a head-on collision between two vehicles at freeway speeds. At that velocity, water would have provided no cushion whatsoever, they may as well have struck concrete.

“I don’t think there is any question of how gruesome that scene must have been for first responders. At least the end would have been near instantaneous.

“Let’s just hope the cabin de-pressurized in the explosion. Otherwise, the astronauts would have likely been conscious for the entire 2-minute and 45-second fall.

Gregg Gray, former Sergeant of the United States Air Force said: “There was evidence that at least some of the crew had survived the explosion and were killed by the crew compartment impacting the water at over 200 mph. It smashed itself to pieces on impact, ripping wide open.

The remains of the astronauts were cremated and buried in a common grave together in Arlington during a small private funeral.

However, Michael McKinley, former Submarine Electronics and Computer Technician at United States Navy said: “They did certainly die upon impact. It would have been quick and they would have been unconscious.”

The hunt for wreckage turned into the largest underwater search and salvage operation since mines were cleared from European harbours after World War 2.

NASA spent about £18million on the operation in the effort to discover what went wrong.

source: express.co.uk