Jorge R. Frank wrote:

Hard to say. The SRBs and SSMEs were clearly trying to compensate for the
loss of thrust from the RSRB when the stack broke up. It's possible that if
the breach had not gotten much worse, the gimbals would still have been
able to control it. On the other hand, if the breach had gotten worse, it
could have exceeded the control authority of the gimbals and the stack
would have tumbled and broken up.




If burning had started between the exterior of the fuel grain and the
inside of the SRB casing due to the breach, that also could have caused
the SRB to break up, as the gas being generated could debond the fuel
grain from the casing, or cause it to fracture- leading to uncontrolled
burning and excessive pressures in the casing. When solids fail that way
the result is generally a big explosion in a matter of a few seconds.

Pat



Pat