Astronauts’ Dream Will Live On, Reagan Pledges

President Reagan, standing in “the shadow of grief” outside the space agency’s mission control room Friday, promised the seven astronauts who died in the Challenger tragedy that their dream will live on.

“Man will continue his conquest of space,” he said.

On the 28th anniversary of the day America first hurled a satellite into space, Reagan led the nation in mourning the worst accident ever to befall its astronauts.

“Sometimes, when we reach for the stars, we fall short, but we must pick ourselves up again and press on despite the pain,” the President said in a memorial service for the seven carried live on national television.

Some Weep, Some Sob

A crowd estimated at 10,000 gathered around a pond at the heart of the Johnson Space Center, some quietly weeping, others sobbing and hugging each other. The sun slid in and out of the steely gray clouds and the 539th Air Force band played dirges before the ceremony began. A brisk wind whipped through the mall-like grounds and the President’s voice echoed among the glass and concrete buildings.

The brief, simple ceremony was the nation’s tribute to Francis (Dick) Scobee, Michael Smith, Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Ronald McNair, Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe, the New England schoolteacher who would have been the first ordinary citizen in space.

After the President’s eulogy the band played “Eternal Father,” the Navy hymn dedicated to those in peril, and the crowd stood to sing “America the Beautiful.”

Then, as the band was playing “God Bless America,” its soft brassy tones were drowned out by the roar of four T-38 jet trainers, hurtling low over the space center in a diamond formation.

‘Missing Man’ Tribute

Directly overhead, the trailing jet sped upward and disappeared into the lowering clouds, the traditional “missing man” tribute. The wife of Onizuka, stoic throughout the ceremony, collapsed in tears on his brother’s chest as the howl of the jets faded away.

Finally the band played “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and the President and the First Lady--tears glistening on her cheeks--embraced each family member before leaving.

The 26-minute ceremony began at 12:45 p.m., yards from mission control where the last routine order was issued to Challenger before it exploded. The White House said 20 members of the families of six of the astronauts were present. They sat on the front row, many of them holding hands; Smith’s small daughter, Erin, clutched a teddy bear.

Resnik’s parents remained in Akron, Ohio, holding their own memorial.

Hundreds at Cape

Halfway across the continent, off the coast of Florida, search crews continued to pluck pieces of the shuttle out of the Atlantic and, at Cape Canaveral, hundreds crowded into an auditorium on the Kennedy Space Center to watch the memorial on television.

Friday, McAuliffe was to have delivered her first lesson from space to schoolchildren around the nation. Churches and schools all over the country held their own ceremonies, some coinciding with the Houston memorial.

Among those on hand outside the Avionics Laboratory here were the other 112 teachers who were regional or national finalists in the teacher-in-space selection; members of Congress, the governors of Florida and Texas and representatives of Canada, France, Germany and Italy.

All 97 surviving members of the astronaut corps were on hand as well as thousands of secretaries, engineers and technicians who helped train Challenger’s crew and supported their mission. John F. Kennedy Jr. and Caroline Kennedy, children of the slain President who pushed the nation to land a man on the moon, were present with their uncle, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).

‘With Dedication, Honor’

“Words pale in the shadow of grief,” Reagan said in a husky voice. “They seem insufficient even to measure the brave sacrifice of those you loved and we so admired. Their truest testimony will be not in the words we speak, but in the way they led their lives and in the way they lost those lives--with dedication, with honor, and an unquenchable desire to explore this mysterious and beautiful universe.”

Reagan compared “our seven star voyagers” to “the pioneers of an earlier century” whose deaths along the Oregon Trail opened the way for the settlement of the West.

“Across America, we are reaching out, holding hands, finding comfort in one another,” he said.

Reagan and the First Lady met with the families of the survivors in a classroom of the Avionics Lab just before the ceremony. After private words with each of them, the President told the group that “I wish there was something I could say to make it easier, but there just aren’t any words.”

Program Will Continue

In his eulogy he told the crowd: “Every family member I talked to asked specifically that we continue the program, that that is what their departed loved ones would want above all else. We will not disappoint them.

“Today, we promise Dick Scobee and his crew that their dream lives on; that the future they worked so hard to build will become reality. . . . Man will continue his conquest of space. To reach out for new goals and ever greater achievements--that is the way we shall commemorate our seven Challenger heroes.”

He recalled each of the dead astronauts in turn--the medals Scobee and Smith won flying in Vietnam; Resnik’s love of music and skill at the piano; Onizuka’s childhood, an Eagle Scout in Hawaii dreaming of being an astronaut; McNair’s dream of living--and playing his saxophone--in an orbiting space station. He recalled that Jarvis carried the flag of his alma mater, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and of McAuliffe’s courage and “her restless spirit of discovery.”

“We bid you goodby, but we will never forget you. We know in our hearts that you who flew so high and so proud now make your home beyond the stars, safe in God’s promise of eternal life.”

Reagan’s nine-minute eulogy came after remarks by William Graham, acting chief of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and prayers led by the Rev. Bernard Hawley, father of astronaut Steven Hawley and father-in-law of astronaut Sally Ride, and by astronaut Charles Bolden.