Ceremony marks Challenger disaster
Crew honored at NASA event on 25th anniversary
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Hundreds gathered at NASA’s launch site yesterday to mark the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, receiving words of hope from the widow of the space shuttle’s commander.
The chilly outdoor ceremony drew space agency managers, former astronauts, past and present launch directors, family and friends of the fallen crew, and schoolchildren who weren’t yet born when the space shuttle carrying a high school teacher from Concord, N.H., erupted in the sky.
The accident on Jan. 28, 1986 — just 73 seconds into flight — killed all seven on board, including teacher Christa McAuliffe.
June Scobee Rodgers, the widow of Challenger’s commander, Dick Scobee, urged the crowd to “boldly look to the future’’ not only in space travel, but in space and science education. She was instrumental in establishing the Challenger Center for Space Science Education.
“The entire world knew how the Challenger crew died,’’ she said. “We wanted the world to know how they lived and for what they were risking their lives.’’
Rodgers and NASA’s space operations chief, Bill Gerstenmaier, placed a memorial wreath of red-, white-, and blue-tinted carnations at the base of the Space Mirror Memorial. The 42-foot-tall gleaming mirrored slab of granite bears the names of all 24 astronauts killed in the line of duty over the years — 17 in US spacecraft.
Dennis and Pat Cassidy of Franklin, N.H., blinked back tears as Rodgers spoke. Pat Cassidy recalled the joy she felt when McAuliffe was named as NASA’s teacher in space — she screamed she was so excited. When Challenger was lost, she couldn’t stop crying.
Her husband recalled after the initial shock, feeling so badly for McAuliffe’s family, all present at the launch: her husband, two children, and her parents. “All I could do was say a prayer for the family. And that’s what they should do today, say a prayer for the families.’’
Erik Volk hadn’t been born yet. Neither were his fellow fifth-graders from Espiritu Santo Catholic School in Safety Harbor, Fla. The 60 students were at an overnight space camp Thursday, and the chaperones rearranged the schedule once they learned of the ceremony. Erik, 10, said he was there “to remember the lives that were lost.’’
The shuttle’s crew was commander Scobee; copilot Michael Smith; Ellison Onizuka, the first Asian-American in space; Judith Resnik, the second American woman in space; Ronald McNair, the second African-American in space; McAuliffe; and Gregory Jarvis.
At the Concord high school where McAuliffe taught, assemblies were held yesterday in her honor.
