"John Mullen" wrote in message ...
"Steve Hix" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Kristan Roberge wrote:

As to Challenger, my understanding of post accident
investigations were that the crew were pretty much
all recovered together, and still strapped to their seats
in the cabin, and that they may have still been alive
post explosion (though unconscious). An ejection
seat system that could have blown them clear
of the crew compartment in such a major system failure would possible
have been useful.

So much for any useful payload...

Yeah, seven ejector seats would not have worked.

On the other hand, it is mind-boggling that they had not even given any
thought to the possibility of abandoning it in flight...

It is at least possible that simple parachutes and a bail-out pole might
have saved them, such as are now installed.

John

The US had a series of clamshell ejection seats for the B58 Hustler,
XB70 Valkyrie and X15 that could handle Mach 5.5. They worked to.
Plans for even more capable ejection seats based on this series were
afoot. Surely these would have saved the crew?

The Gemini Style ejection seats of the Gemini Capsule and SR71 handled
in excess of Mach 3.

The EGRESS system based on these clamshell seats added a heat shield
to the rear and was capable fo full re-entry from orbit. It is
difficult to imagine the seat not managing most situations except a
very rapid disintegration.

This is EGRESS:
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/egress.htm

http://www.astronautix.com/craftfam/rescue.htm

The lack of ejections seats on the shuttle was purely an economic one:
it allowed either more crew or more payload.