Did the crew of the Challenger survive the initial explosion of the fuel tank?

This week marks the 20th anniversary of one of the most enduring images of the 20th century -- the Challenger accident. One of the mysteries of the tragedy concerns the fate of the astronauts: Did they die instantly? Or were they conscious of their fate? Now, that mystery may be solved, WESH 2 News space specialist Dan Billow reported. NASA now knows that the astronauts lived through the explosion and tried desperately to survive. Story Musgrave, NASA's most experienced astronaut, said positively that the crew survived the entire way down. That knowledge will change the way future spacecrafts are built. After the Challenger broke apart over the Space Coast on Jan. 28, 1986, the crew compartment fell away intact and tumbled for two minutes until it hit the ocean at a speed of 200 mph. Musgrave, who knows as much about spaceflight as anyone alive, said the astronauts were conscious during those two minutes. "Challenger's fast, launch is fast," Musgrave said. "It's 'bang' and then it's a two-minute ride down. And you're conscious. We know that." Musgrave flew on the space shuttle six times, both before and after Challenger. He's a medical doctor, and space rescue and survival were among his specialties in his 30 years wearing the blue jumpsuit. "You died when you hit the water, we know that," he said. "There's nothing controversial about that. No. It's hard evidence. You died when you hit the water." The hard evidence came from the post-accident investigation. A NASA video described the shuttle's breakup with clinical detachment, and showed it was not an explosion. "The initial path of the crew cabin from the vapor cloud carried it across the path of an adjacent contrail. After 10 seconds, the crew cabin was seen again with the front end and top of the cabin visible," said NASA's Greg Katnik. A NASA statement released after the accident said, "The forces to which the crew were exposed during orbiter breakup were probably not sufficient to cause death or serious injury." Some authorities have suggested that a parachute system built into the crew cabin could have saved their lives. At the bottom of the ocean, divers recovered four of the emergency oxygen packs the astronauts had with them. Some oxygen packs were turned on, and investigators say they could not have been turned on by the impact. Someone had to turn them on. Still, NASA has never been willing to make an official conclusion on the fate of the crew. The agency always encouraged the belief that the astronauts blacked out right away. "NASA is unable to determine positively the cause of death of the Challenger astronauts but has established that it is possible, but not certain, that loss of consciousness did occur in the seconds following the orbiter breakup," the NASA statement said. The only voice recording that came back was the shuttle's pilot, Mike Smith, saying "uh-oh" at the moment of breakup. His was one of the turned-on oxygen packs. Looking at the shuttle disappear into a cloud of fire and vapor, most people probably assume no one could have survived it. Musgrave suggests that NASA's astronauts and other insiders know differently. "You could have lost consciousness for a little while at that altitude if it depressurized, but then, no, there's all kinds of evidence that you died when you hit the water," he said. Knowing whether the crew remained conscious after the breakup is important to the survival of future astronauts. The cabin of another shuttle, Columbia, also survived its initial breakup intact, although it did break up later on. Now, a parachute system or other escape method will be built into all future spaceships once the shuttles are retired.