Those were the last recorded words - evidence before all communication with the shuttle was lost. It was breaking apart and encountered multiple system failures almost simultaneously. (Scroll down on this link to view the data. Look, especially, at events beginning at 72.204 seconds.)

At first, people on the ground believed the crew had ejected because they saw parachutes. But unlike the comparatively primitive Mercury space capsules 25 years before, there was no escape method for the shuttle's crew. The parachutes were intended to safely carry the solid rocket boosters to an ocean landing. (Scroll down on this link to view what normally happened.) Disengaged, the parachutes were flying on their own, with nothing attached.

People at Morton Thiokol were watching too - on television, in their Utah offices. Roger Boisjoly describes the scene:

It was approximately five minutes prior to the launch as I was walking past the room used to view launches when Bob...encouraged me to enter and watch the launch. The room was filled, so I seated myself on the floor closest to the screen and leaned against Bob's legs as he was seated in a chair. The boosters ignited, and as the vehicle cleared the tower Bob whispered to me that we had just dodged a bullet. At approximately T+60 seconds Bob told me that he had just completed a prayer of thanks to the Lord for a successful launch.

Of course, as the official report describes, at T+59.262 seconds, a flickering flame lapping along the right Solid Rocket Booster had already grown into a "continuous, well-defined plume."

Boisjoly continues:

Just 13 seconds later we both saw the horror of destruction as the vehicle exploded. We all sat in stunned silence for a short time, then I got up and left the room and went directly to my office, where I remained the rest of the day. Two of my seal task-team colleagues inquired at my office to see if I was okay, but I was unable to speak to them and hold back my emotions so I just nodded yes to them and they left after a short silent stay.

And what of the shuttle itself? The official report describes what happened:

(W)hile traveling at a Mach number of 1.92 at an altitude of 46,000 feet, the Challenger was totally enveloped in the explosive burn. The Challenger's reaction control system ruptured and a hypergolic burn of its propellants occurred as it exited the oxygen-hydrogen flames. The reddish brown colors of the hypergolic fuel burn are visible on the edge of the main fireball. The orbiter, under severe dynamic loads, broke into several large sections which emerged from the fireball. Separate sections that can be identified on film include the main engine/tail section with the engines still burning, one wing of the Orbiter, and the forward fuselage trailing a mass of umbilical lines pulled loose from the payload bay.

Within a week of the disaster, people heard the bodies of the crew had been found. In fact, the crew cabin was not retrieved until 40 days after the explosion. The most startling findings are still hard to comprehend. At least four of the emergency breathing devices the crew carried in their attaché cases had been used. Two of them had been completely "breathed down." (Follow this link to hear the facts discussed on National Public Radio. Roger Boisjoly takes part in the interview.)

Did some, or all, of the crew survive the explosion? The official medical report, prepared by Dr. Kerwin and submitted to Rear Admiral Truly tends to support the proposition that the crew cabin did NOT break apart during the explosion. Dr. Kerwin's report also seems to imply that some of the crewmembers lived until their orbiter, with them in it, hit the ocean at approximately 200 miles per hour. It took between 2 1/2 and 3 minutes for the cabin to fall into the sea. (This link takes you to the official NASA press release regarding the fate of the crew.)

President Reagan, scheduled to give the State of the Union Address the night of the shuttle launch, met with grief-stricken family members and NASA employees. In an oft-quoted speech, the President himself used a famous quote as he tried to comfort the bewildered: