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There was a small flame on the ET (External Tank) Space Shuttle Challenger was so high into the sky at that time that mission control could not see it. They continued for throttle up which releases more power to help Challenger get through the atmosphere. Dick Scobee said: "Roger. Go for throttle up." That was the last that was heard. My guess is the ET, which contains very flammable liquids, caught on fire. It burned the shuttle and everyone in it. No one can be certain because the last words were confirming throttle up. Then nothing. Hope this helps!

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That is not quite what happened, though that makes sense from looking at the video.

To answer the original question, there is evidence that would indicate the astronauts died after falling from 9 miles up. The oxygen levels in their tanks indicate that they were alive for a long time after the explosion.

The explosion was due to on O-ring problem that engineers had been telling management about since 1977 (9 years prior to launch). The day before the launch, there were 4 engineers basically screaming at management to not launch, but they did anyway. The two main factors contributing to the failure were flawed design and cold temperature (they launched on a day that was 19 degrees F colder than the engineers had specified).

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