Space Center Pauses for Challenger

Workers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center halted all activity and fell silent for 73 seconds today in memory of the seven astronauts who died aboard the space shuttle Challenger five years ago.

The observance began at 11:38 a.m., the time of Challenger’s liftoff on Jan. 28, 1986. The shuttle exploded 73 seconds later.

Among the dead was Christa McAuliffe, a teacher from Concord, N.H., who had planned live lessons from orbit for the nation’s students. She was the first ordinary American to head into space.

In a brief message televised to employees throughout the launch site, Kennedy Space Center Director Forrest McCartney noted that 13 shuttle flights have been conducted since the disaster.

“These have been five years of accomplishment of which we can all be proud,” McCartney said.

No official observances were held at Johnson Space Center in Houston or at NASA headquarters in Washington.

At Concord High School, where McAuliffe taught, students and faculty paused for a moment of silence at the same time as NASA workers. Five years ago, cheering students jammed the school’s auditorium watching the launch on television.

Principal Charles Foley said today’s pause would be the school’s last.

“That’s dwelling on the sorrowful end of it,” he said. “Christa is now a positive memory.

“We are symbolizing that the period for grief is now over,” Foley said.

On Friday, the school will rename its auditorium in McAuliffe’s name. No other public events were scheduled.

A single apple, with a yellow and white ribbon attached, was atop McAuliffe’s snow-covered gravestone this morning.