'I think they would rather not know. Wouldn't it be better to have a happy successful flight and die unexpectedly during entry than know there was nothing to be done, until the air ran out?' How Columbia crew died in ignorance

It was better for them to die unexpectedly: Columbia Shuttle Crew Not Told of Possible Problem With Reentry | Mail Online: "NASA has revealed that the Columbia crew were not told that the shuttle had been damaged and  they might not survive re-entry. The seven astronauts who died will be remembered at a public memorial service on the 10th anniversary of the disaster this Friday at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. The shuttle was headed home from a 16-day science mission when it broke apart over Texas on February 1, 2003, because of damage to its left wing. Ten years ago, experts at NASA's mission control faced the terrible decision over whether to let the astronauts know that they may die on re-entry or face orbiting in space until the oxygen ran out."