Reagans Will Fly to Houston for Memorial Service

President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, will fly to Houston on Friday for a memorial service honoring the six astronauts and a schoolteacher killed in Tuesday’s explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.

The decision to grieve together at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, the headquarters of the U.S. space program, was made by the families of the astronauts and welcomed at the White House as an expression of their continuing commitment to space exploration.

Plea by Scobee’s Wife

“Please do not let this stop the space program,” June Kent Scobee, the wife of Challenger commander Francis R. (Dick) Scobee, told Vice President George Bush only hours after the tragedy.

Bush returned late Tuesday evening from the launching site at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to brief Reagan on his meetings with the families and with top officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Messages of sympathy flooded into the White House from 21 countries, including one from Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

“We share the feeling of sorrow in connection with the tragic death of the crew of the space shuttle Challenger,” Gorbachev wrote. “We express our condolence to the people of the United States and to the families.”

The American flag atop the White House flew at half staff, the result of a proclamation by Reagan ordering the national display of mourning through Monday on all government buildings, U.S. embassies and naval vessels.

Reagan’s public schedule was sharply curtailed because of the catastrophe; but, in a low-key ceremony in the Oval Office, he named Californian Richard E. Lyng as his new secretary of agriculture.

When reporters covering the event asked about his feelings in the aftermath of the space disaster, Reagan said: “They’re still much as they were yesterday. I think all of us have kind of escaped the numbness of shock that we all felt, but life has to go on, and so does the space program.”

Reagan telephoned his condolences to members of the shuttle crew’s families. And, White House spokesman Larry Speakes said, the President will send a written message to teacher Sharon Christa McAuliffe’s high school students.

“We’re mindful of the trauma that must be being experienced there in Concord (N.H.),” Speakes said.

Throughout Washington, public officials sought ways to honor the astronauts. At a solemn ceremony for the unveiling of a memorial plaque for them at the National Museum of Air and Space, Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio), the first American to orbit the Earth, noted sadly that “our triumphs are matched occasionally by tragedy--the day we all intuitively knew inside was coming.”

In response to a reporter’s question, Glenn said that he would oppose any congressional investigation of the shuttle explosion. “It’s not necessary,” he said. “NASA needs to take a technical look at what happened.”

Sen. Jake Garn (R-Utah), who had recently flown on the Challenger as the first congressman in space, said that McAuliffe should be considered “a professional astronaut who died with her crewmen in the service of her country.”

Rep. Norman Y. Mineta (D-San Jose) eulogized astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka, the first Japanese-American in space, at the museum ceremony, saying, “He felt excitement and disbelief in reaching a goal our parents thought would never be attainable.”

Contrary to initial speculation that the devastating accident could give impetus to opponents of the space shuttle, official Washington joined Reagan in rallying around the program.

When asked if the United States could afford another $2-billion space orbiter, Rep. William H. Gray III (D-Pa.), chairman of the House Budget Committee, said, “Those who lost their lives in the service of our country certainly wouldn’t want us to give up on the program.”

Although Gray did not advocate that NASA be exempt from the cutbacks mandated by the new Gramm-Rudman deficit-reduction law, he reflected concern in Congress that NASA be given adequate support to rebuild after the Challenger tragedy.

Rep. Jim Slattery (D-Kan.), a member of the Budget Committee, predicted that Congress would want to “do something to restate our commitment to the space program.” He said he had heard a number of people say, “Let’s not approach this with a defeatist attitude.”

$7-Billion NASA Budget

Slattery said the $7-billion NASA budget represented the only significant non-military research and development spending in the federal budget.

Glenn, meanwhile, held a news conference to declare his unwavering support for the space shuttle. “This will be a temporary setback, obviously,” he said, “but manned flight will go on.”

Times Staff Writers Bob Secter, Betty Cuniberti and Karen Tumulty contributed to this story. Additional shuttle stories, Part VI, Page 1.