[brityank]

... Columbia's flight showed that two thrusters fired briefly in a last-ditch effort to regain control.These scraps of flight information, gleaned from data received in the 32 seconds after mission control lost radio contact, ...

Any help for the analysis?

[brityank]

A main engine turbo pump was recovered near Fort Polk, La. The 800-pound pump hit the ground with such force that it was found 14 feet below the surface.

With as much debris that fell with no one hit or major damage to property, it gives lie to the overcrowding claims of the looney environMENTALists!

[Vic3O3]

ping

[Question_Assumptions]

These scraps of flight information, gleaned from data received in the 32 seconds after mission control lost radio contact, suggest that the Columbia astronauts might have had time to develop a sense of the shuttle's plight.

If you've actually heard the last transmission from Columbia, it sounds pretty clear to me that they knew something was wrong. When they mention the tire pressure problem, the pause and uncertainty in the response, before it gets cut off, sounded to me like it came from someone who knew something was going wrong. This is similar to the Challenge accident, where you can hear the microphone get keyed and the initial pop of the explosion because their panel indicated the engines were overheating and shutting down and they were about to call down to ask what was wrong. In both cases, the crews could see that something was wrong but everything played out too quickly for them to do anything about it.