WASHINGTON. The future of America╒s ambitious space shuttle programme was in complete turmoil last night after a devastating mid-air explosion, just one minute after takeoff, which killed the crew of seven, including the first ordinary citizen on the programme, a New Hampshire school teacher, Mrs Christa McAuliffe.
Nasa said last night that it had suspended operations of the shuttle indefinitely, pending the findings of a board of inquiry. But in a televised address to the American people, President Reagan stressed that the space programme would go ahead.
A spellbound nation watched with high expectations as Challenger lifted cleanly off the launch pad at 11.38am, trailing the normal blazing geyser of fire behind it.
Some 60-seconds into the launch, as the elegant spacecraft soared nine miles into the deep blue sky above Cape Canaveral, it turned into a ferocious fireball as a bolt on the main fuel tank exploded, detonating an eruption with the power of what was described by Nasa scientists as a ╥small nuclear weapon.╙
For a lingering moment there was stunned silence across the country from the Concord, New Hampshire, school ╤ where some 1,200 people had gathered to watch the launch on a giant television screen ╤ to the VIP viewing room at the Cape where Christa McAuliffe╒s six and nine-year-old children were watching with her husband, Steve.
At the White House, the First Lady, Nancy Reagan, watching the shuttle launch quietly on her own, let out a scream of ╥Oh My God╙. The Vice-President, Mr George Bush, and the National Security Adviser, Admiral John Poindexter, burst in on President Reagan, alone in the Oval Office, with the report from Cape Canaveral. The President was stunned into silence before saying it was a ╥horrible thing╙.
The President then hastily consulted leaders on Capitol Hill and requested that his fifth State of the Union message ╤ which was to have been delivered to a joint session of Congress last night ╤ be cancelled. Mr Reagan immediately sent Mr Bush to Cape Canaveral to express condolences to the families, and it was announced that the President would go on television to explain the tragic turn of events.
Mr Reagan was particularly affected by yesterday╒s disaster since it was his own idea that a national competition be held to find a teacher to be sent into space so that children across the country could learn the wonders of the universe at first hand. Christa MacAuliffe was to have delivered two lectures from space to be broadcast to schools across the country by public television stations.
In his televised address yesterday evening, President Reagan, who is committed to the shuttle because of its significance in his Star Wars programe, said: ╥There will be more shuttle flights, more shuttle crews, more volunteers, more teachers... nothing ends here. Our hopes and journeys continue.╙ He praised the seven dead astronauts for their ╥daring and their bravery╙.
Mr Reagan looked grave and sombre but sought to keep alive the spirit of space exploration which he likened to the efforts of Sir Francis Drake, who died off the coast of Panama 390 years ago. ╥Today their dedication, like Drake╒s, remains incomplete,╙ the President said. Mr Reagan, who was to have delivered an optimistic State of the Union message last night, closed his televised broadcast by saying, ╥They slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God.╙ He said that it was a day for mourning and remembering what was truly ╥a national loss.╙ He sent a special message to the millions of schoolchildren who had witnessed the disaster on television.
They had witnessed the fearsome sight of Challenger breaking up against the Florida skies, sending two huge streamers of white smoke into the atmosphere. For a brief moment the country held its breath as a large parachute opened and headed towards the Atlantic.
But then there was national sorrow and disappointment as it was explained that the parachute was for paramedical staff who had followed the craft as a normal safety precaution.
The explosion happened as Nasa was sending instructions to the shuttle commander, Francis Scobee, to boost the rockets from 64 per cent power to 100 per cent power as the craft was entering the period of maximum aerodynamic pressure. It was the first disaster in the air in 56 manned space missions for the United States, although three American astronauts died on the launch pad in the Apollo 1 craft 17 years ago on Monday.
Soon after the explosion a forlorn voice rang out from mission control saying: ╥We are checking with recovery forces to see what can be done at this point╔ contingency procedures are in effect.╙
The voice added: ╥Vehicle has exploded... we are awaiting word from any recovery forces down range.╙ But as the search and rescue squads began combing the area it quickly became clearer that the shuttle crew ╤ which included two women, Mrs McAuliffe and Judith Resnick ╤ could not have survived.
Last night, after examining video film of the takeoff, Nasa experts said that the first sign of trouble came when small flames began to leak out from one of the two giant solid rocket boosters which propel the Challenger orbiter into space. One of the solid rocket boosters fell away and the hydrogen fuel exploded.
The commander and crew of the space shuttle may have been able to see that something was wrong from the computers and equipment in the small crew capsule at the front of the shuttle. But the explosion came so quickly that it was unlikely they had time to take any precautionary action. This shuttle mission, unlike some of the earlier craft, carried no ejector seats. They had been considered an unnecessary safety precaution.
As the accident occurred radio communications and telemetry fell silent. There was shock and disbelief among the thousands of observers at the Cape who had given the rocket a huge cheer as it lifted off the ground carrying the smiling schoolteacher. ╥I can╒t believe it,╙ said one weeping woman.
