European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 30, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday july 30, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 5 shuttle Crew May have survived blast by the los Angeles times Washington the seven Crew members of the space shuttle challenger probably remained conscious for at least 10 seconds after the Jan. 28 explosion and at least two members switched on emergency breathing air packs the National aeronautics and space administration said monday. Nasa officials for the first time made Public information showing thai the Crew probably nol Only lived through the initial blast but understood the seriousness of the situation enough to activate emergency breath ing systems. Each Crew member had Access to a special air pack that provided six minutes of air. The release of information Learned from the salvaged Crew Cabin contradicted a july 17 space Agency announcement that Crew members v Ere probably killed instantly by the explosion. The Agency said that a subsequent analysis of tap recordings in the Crew compartment showed the first potential indication of  us of Pilot Michael Smith said 73 seconds after Takeoff. It was the last sound of the Crew recorded bythe intercom in the shuttle s Cabin it s my guess that at thai Point there was aware Ness on the part at least of the commander and Pilot because that was the moment of the explosion said rear adm. Richard h. Truly Nasa s associate administrator for space flight. The explosion occurred when hot gases from the challenger s right solid Booster burned through a scam in the Mulli sectioned rocket. Restored tapes iridis catch conversation Only among the four astronauts who sat on the flight deck com Mander Francis r. Scobee Smith and Mission specialists Ellison s. Onizuka and Judith a. Rusnick. Unlike the flight deck which had a voice activated intercom system the mid deck system required Crew members Christa Mcauliffe Ronald e. Mcnair and Gregory b. Jarvis to push a Button to be recorded. Or. Joseph p. Kerwin director of life sciences Tanasa s Johnson space Center in Houston said the explosion that Tore the Crew compartment from the rest of the or Bilcer probably would not have killed or even seriously injured he astronauts. He said the Crew compartment would have broken free from the orbiter lest than 10 seconds after the explosion. He said the Crew possibly but not certainly lost consciousness because of loss of pressure in the Crew Cabin in the seconds after the orbiter began breaking apart. He said he length of time he Crew remained conscious depended on the rate at which the Crew module lost pressure and that depended on the size of the Hole in the Crew module which could not be ascertained from the wreckage. The explosion occurred at an Altitude of 48,000 feet and the Crew Cabin continued o a Peak of 65,000 feel Kerwin said. The pressures there arc so Low that even with a supplemental breathing Supply the time of useful consciousness would vary Between approximately six and 15 seconds Kerwin said. So the number of seconds thai the Crew May have retained consciousness would be a function of How rapidly the Crew module lost pressure. It could have been As Low As 10 seconds or  the compartment crashed into the water nearly in tact 1 minutes and 45 seconds after the explosion. None of the Crew members could have survived the Impact Kerwin said. He noted that the cause of death could nol be deter mined and medical examiners could not determine whether in flight Lack of oxygen  cruise line to avoid Europe cars with Efi Africa Mideast ports in 87 monitored by safety Agency new York