The Horror Dawned Slowly

A NASA official who was with McAuliffe's parents during the launch said afterward, "I'll never forget the expression on her mother's face."

Barbara Morgan, the teacher chosen as backup to McAuliffe, had stood on a TV platform near the press stand. Just at ignition and liftoff, she had smiled and waved, "Bye, Christa. Bye, Christa."

A minute later she was being helped from the platform, shaken.

A grizzled senior Lockheed technician who helped close out the shuttle before launch sat tiredly drinking a cup of coffee in the NASA cafeteria 1 1/2 hours after the disaster.

"I stood in that field watching them, and I saw the Lord took 'em in a twinkling," he said. "I don't feel sorry for those brave people because they're with the Lord. I feel sorry for the children."

The launch had attracted dozens of busloads of schoolchildren and their teachers, to see the "teacher in space." On the mission's fourth day, McAuliffe had planned to teach the first classes from space, beginning with one entitled "The Ultimate Field Trip."

The morning activities had begun before dawn in high, if chilly spirits. After six delays, it looked as if the mission would finally go up.

Watching the closed-circuit monitors, we had followed the preparations on the launch pad. One by one, the proud and smiling members of the crew appeared in the "White Room," the enclosed entryway attached to the Challenger's hatch, and put the final touches on their spacesuits.

The room got unusually crowded because everyone was pushing in to get out of the below-freezing weather.

A member of the supporting crew who had come to be known in Mission Control reports as Sonny (Billy Bob) Carter, gave the space teacher an apple as she appeared in the "White Room," welcoming her as a special passenger. (Before the previous day's launch had been scrubbed, Carter had welcomed her wearing a mortarboard with tassel.) Even on the closed-circuit screens, she seemed to glow with delight.

McAuliffe was the first to climb into an American spacecraft with no special training in science or aeronautics, other than the 400 hours' worth that followed her selection from among 11,000 teacher-applicants. After some smiles and small talk with other crew members, she put a little white cap on her dark curls, and then the massive space helmet.

She is reported to have said, "I really feel a part of this crew."