In Royalty's Presence

There is the queen you hear and read about, and then there is the actual queen, standing in front of you in three dimensions, close enough to touch.

When it happened yesterday morning in Greenbelt -- when the queen strolled 100 yards from Goddard Space Flight Center's main building to one housing the auditorium -- the Goddard employees and their family members lining the route seemed star-struck, their mouths hanging open in awe as she passed within feet.

Accompanied by NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin and British and U.S. officials, Her Majesty walked past at least 3,000 onlookers cheering and waving small British flags. They could have reached out and touched her as she strolled past, but she did not offer a hand, just smiled the queenly smile and nodded.

She stopped to chat here and there on the 15-minute stroll.

"She asked me do I work here and what I do here," said John Krizmanic, who has a doctorate in physics. Standing with the others behind a metal fence, Krizmanic was smiling so wide, it was hard to tell whether he'd just spoken with a queen or finally unlocked the secret of the universe. " 'I'm a physicist,' I told her."

Sherry Warner was still quivering minutes afterward. "I told her, 'Yes, I work here,' that we actually build the electronics that go in satellites," Warner said. "Oh, yes, I'm excited! Wonderful! Wonderful!"

The royal visit began with a stop at mission control, where the queen listened as British-born NASA astronaut C. Michael Foale posed questions about life in space to the three astronauts orbiting Earth aboard the international space station. "Very fascinating," the queen proclaimed afterward. At her discretion, she did not speak to them herself.

At the auditorium, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) and Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) presented the queen with a framed montage of images taken from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Accompanied by Prince Philip, the queen toured an exhibit area. The duke listened intently as British astronaut Piers Sellers, who walked in space last summer, described a spacesuit's life-support system.

"What do you do about natural functions?" the duke inquired. The astronaut gave a discreet answer.

Throughout the morning, patience was rewarded. Preschoolers, children of Goddard employees, waited for the queen while sitting on the grass, talking, laughing and glancing around. "Where's the queen at?" a small boy yelled. Coming soon, he was told. And when finally she arrived, he got to his feet like the others but said nothing -- just handed the queen a flower, staring up at her wide-eyed, his face frozen.