I've read that most of the flight deck crew, Scobee, Smith, Onizuka, with the exception of Resnik were in identifiable condition aside from the severe trauma associated with impact and the ravages of salt water immersion for 3 months. Not pretty to say the least.
They think that from the condition that the crew compartment was found in, and using ballistics calculations that it impacted the ocean surface at a blistering 207MPH bottom first. As a result, the crew compartment was crushed upwards and out rendering the 3 occupants of the mid-deck, McAuiffe, Jarvis, and McNair to little more than unidentifiable remains among the debris. DNA identification was not available in 1986.
Body parts were found of all the Astronauts
All of the bodies were recovered, but it was never determined how the astronauts died. It is assumed they died due to the impact with the ocean, and not the explosion itself.
In the ocean off of Cape Canaveral.
You know what happens when you leave the cover off the blender and then start it? That's the condition the bodies were in.
They were found in the crew cabin on the Atlantic Ocean floor off the coast of Florida.
They were not recovered And there is no eveidence to suggest they didn't go to the moon. Families were told the astranauts would be away for up to 7-10 days.
Their bodies would become very weak.
All the bodies were eventually recovered .
Oh my goodness....they BLEW UP !
they have to extercise
What was left of them, yes.
Challenger Destroyed 73 seconds into LaunchThe NASA space shuttle Challenger, carrying 7 astronauts on orbital mission STS-51-L, exploded during the launch, killing all on board including the first "teacher in space" Christa McAuliffe. The other six killed were pilot Michael J. Smith, mission commander Dick Scobee, and specialists Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Judith Resnik.The external fuel tank, containing tons of liquid hydrogen and oxygen, was ruptured by a flare of hot gas from one of the two solid-propellant booster rockets, causing a breakup that destroyed the vehicle. The shuttle crew compartment and the two SRB boosters (both remotely destructed) all fell into the ocean. The bodies of the astronauts were not recovered until March 9th.
To identify recovered bodies