Stuf4 wrote:

From Hallerb:

At the speeds involved no one could of survived.

A thought just occurred to me...

Maybe an *airbag* could have saved them. (COTS Ford-style SRS
airbag.)

Not that I would necessarily advocate designing an aircraft (let alone
spacecraft) with this. There are smarter ways to make 51L/107-type
crashes survivable.


Don't know about spacecraft but the small plane makers have been working on
how to use airbag technology to reduce injuries in otherwise survivable
crashes.