“the astronauts inside were already dead (that is- it is hoped they were).”
Astronaut Dr. Story Musgrave says the evidence shows they were still alive until the crew cabin impacted the sea.
Astronauts Likely Survived Challenger Explosion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqcd_3daPQ8
What a terrible horrific thing to happen to them—trapped inside for the over 1 minute fall at terminal velocity to hit the ocean surface like a sheet of steel.
There has gone around for some time, a story of current Sen. Bill Nelson (was in the house then, think) having spirited the remains from the cabin which were on the recovery ship, placed in garbage bags, away from the hangar in the back of a damn pickup truck— to the AirForce morgue at Patrick AFB— from reliable military EMS people. An embarrassment that Nelson— who loves obamaumao and Wasserman-Shulz, and is a greedy litle nitpicker.