Question about the Challenger disaster

[Pushkin]

When the explosion occured two smaller boosters seemed to be thrown to one side and kept on firing. Was this what happened? Did they impact on the ground or out to sea? I was just curious after the repeat viewings of the disaster.

[racekarl]

IIRC, the boosters kept flying and were detonated remotely by the ground controllers. Thry contained explosive charges expressly for this purpose to prevent them from returning to earth in one piece and causing destruction on the ground.

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

I believe that all of the Challenger wreckage went into the water.

http://www.chron.com/content/interactive/special/challenger/docs/challenger.explodes.html

NASA said the main impact area appeared to be about 18 miles down course, but debris rained down for miles.

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.com/challengr.htm

Flaming debris rained down on the Atlantic Ocean for an hour after the explosion, which occurred just after 11:39 A. M. It kept rescue teams from reaching the area where the craft would have fallen into the sea, about 18 miles offshore.

< snip >

Two large white streamers raced away from the blast, followed by a rain of debris that etched white contrails in the cloudless sky and then slowly headed toward the cold waters of the nearby Atlantic.

In that 75 seconds of flight, the shuttle traveled quite a ways out over the ocean.