Ugh.
The report makes it clear that the astronauts were buffeted so badly that their heads were smashed against the interiors of their helmets. The blows to the head would have rendered them unconscious and then dead within a few seconds. As the forces got worse, their harnesses gave way apparently.
It doesn’t sound like there were any intact corpses even before the vehicle exploded. What a very very sad event.
I read through the summary portion of the report and here’s what I got from it:
Upon the initial breakup of the vehicle (lose of the wing) the crew module and main cargo bay went into a type of spin which only resulted in about 1-3Gs.
Although the crew could have survived this phase the breakup caused the crew module to de-compress at such a rate that they all blacked out. Two of the crew members were completed suited up and only needed to pull their visors down but they never did. The other crew members either didn’t have their gloves on or helmets on and never really had a chance. This phase lasted about 40 seconds but as I mentioned the crew at this point had already passed out.
Following that phase the main shuttle began to completely break apart and the crew module once separated from the main body began to tumble. At this point as the crew module began to tumble the Gs went from the 1-3Gs to spiking in the range of 30Gs. This is where the shoulder harnesses that should have retracted failed in a sense and they don’t know why. The helmets also were not designed to protect from this type of violent movement thus the head trauma. This phase lasted about 15 seconds and it was extremely unlikely any of the crew survived this phase.
After this phase the crew module and other larger pieces really began to come apart and the rest is now history.
Its a shame to lose such good people over mismanagement or oversight.
JB