Reagan Leads U.S. in Goodby to Astronauts

HOUSTON —  President Reagan today mourned the loss of “our seven star voyagers,” bidding them farewell while promising that America will forge ahead with an “effective, safe and efficient but bold and committed” space program.

The President spoke at the wind-swept outdoor memorial after a private meeting inside the Johnson Space Center with families of the crew of the Challenger. He told them he wished “there was something I could say to make it easier.”

The ceremony was witnessed by up to 15,000 people--survivors, NASA co-workers, politicians, diplomats and friends of the astronauts.

Reagan compared the five men and two women to the pioneers of the American West, “the sturdy souls who took their families and their belongings and set out into the frontier.”

‘Steeled to Journey Ahead’

“Often they met with terrible hardship,” Reagan said. “Along the Oregon Trail, you can still see the grave markers of those who fell on the way. But grief only steeled them to the journey ahead.

“Today the frontier is space and the boundaries of human knowledge,” Reagan said. “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 the nation must forge ahead in the space program.

“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.”

First Lost in Space

The seven astronauts on Tuesday became the first Americans lost in space when their spacecraft exploded.

Calling the seven crew members by their first names, Reagan said: “Dick, Mike, Judy, El, Ron, Greg and Christa, your families and your country mourn your passing. We bid you goodby, but we will never forget you.

Meanwhile today, a small robot submarine dived to the ocean bottom off the Florida coast to inspect a large metal object that could be Challenger’s pressurized cabin intact with the remains of its crew. But on a day devoted to a memorial service for the seven astronauts in Houston, NASA said it would not publicly disclose the fact even if bodies were found.