Reply #24: Neither shuttle exploded. [View All]

[Fescue4u]

Both broke up due to aerodynamic forces caused by orbiters misalignment with the prevailing airflow. In the first accident, the explosion of the tank caused the misalignment.
In the 2nd, the left wing was destroyed by re-entry, which then caused the orbiter to go out of control (and become mis-aligned with the airflow)

As such, the pieces were not consumed in fire.

Nonethess, the REASON that no expense was spared in collecting shuttle parts, was that this was huge factor in determining what happened to it. (that and many of the pieces were toxic)

In the case of the Pentagon, no engineering analysis was necessary to know that a nutter flew it into the building.