Crowd of 250,000 Cheers Launch at Space Center

A smaller-than-expected crowd estimated at 250,000 cheered from river banks and roadsides outside Titusville, Fla., today as Discovery lifted off on America’s first manned space mission in 32 months.

The crowds lining U.S. 1 across the Indian River from Kennedy Space Center counted down the final few seconds with a NASA announcer piped in by loudspeaker and broke into shouts of encouragement as Discovery lifted off.

They quieted down when the spaceship disappeared behind a layer of clouds, but the yells began again when it reappeared and became louder when the crowds heard the announcement at 2 minutes, 4 seconds after launch that the boosters had separated. Challenger blew up 73 seconds into flight because of a flaw in its right booster.

“Oh my gosh, it was great,” said 11-year-old Tommy Mathis of Detroit. “It was neat watching. . . . It just looked like a ball of fire at first going up. And it went into a cloud halfway up.

“As soon as it went out, it was beautiful,” he said.

Tens of thousands of people had pitched their tents, parked their campers and pulled out their lawn chairs starting Wednesday to grab the best viewing spots.

But NASA estimates of up to 1 million spectators proved to be vastly overblown. Joan Heller, a spokeswoman for the Brevard County Sheriff’s office, said shortly after launch that she guessed about a quarter of a million people were on hand, although no formal count was attempted.