Cheers, silence
NZPA-Reuter Concord, New Hampshire One minute the pupils were cheering her on into space — the next minute there was sudden silence. Then the horror sank in and the tears and sobs came for Christa McAuliffe.
Teachers and pupils at Concord High School were assembled round television sets, the students wearing party hats and blowing party noisemakers.
Mrs McAuliffe had planned to give two lessons while in orbit. She called it the ultimate field trip.
When Challenger exploded after lift-off everyone fell silent. Then, crying and sobbing, the 1400 pupils and 110 teachers went back to the classrooms before being dismissed for the day.
A school board member, Joan Longeran, said she walked into the auditorium where teachers were meeting after the pupils had left. “Everyone was in tears, all the crepe paper was lying on the floor and I was just overcome,” she said.
All classes at Concord High have been cancelled for today. Ms Longeran said the action had been taken more for the teachers than for the pupils. “You can’t teach like this, they just can’t,” she said.
Silence and shock were the main reactions among the rest of Concord’s 30,000 citizens. In the window of Gibson’s Bookstore, a picture of a smiling Mrs McAuliffe in her astronaut outfit hung above her favourite slogan: “Reach focrthe stars.”
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Press, 30 January 1986, Page 4
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221Cheers, silence Press, 30 January 1986, Page 4
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