He added: "Nothing stops here."
NASA delayed its announcement that thereappeared to be no survivors until it had conductedsearch-and-rescue efforts. Even before Moore'sstatement, it seemed impossible anyone could havesurvived such a cataclysm.
The crew included McAuliffe and six NASAastronauts: commander Francis R. Scobee, 46, pilotMichael J. Smith, 40; Judith Resnik, 36; Ronald E.McNair, 35; Ellison S. Onizuka, 39; and Gregory B.Jarvis, 41.
McNair received a Ph.D. from MIT in 1976.
Col. John Shults, director of DefenseDepartment contingency operations here, said asearch armada of helicopters, ships and planes hadspotted several pieces of debris floating in theAtlantic. The debris will be recovered and broughtto a hangar at nearby Patrick Air Force Base.
The president watched video replays in "stunnedsilence," and sent Vice President George Bush hereto convey his sympathies to the families of thecrew.
"It's a terrible thing," Reagan told reporters."I just can't get out of my mind her [Mrs.McAuliffe's] husband, her children, as well as thefamilies of the others on board."
"Oh, my God, no!" exclaimed first lady NancyReagan, who was watching the launch in the WhiteHouse family quarters.
Challenger, the second of the agency's fourships to fly, was making ts 10th flight, more thanany of the other shuttles. Its destruction leavesa fleet of just three shuttles and a program inconsiderable uncertainty.
Lost along with the spacecraft were a$100-million satellite that was to have become animportant part of NASA's space-based shuttlecommunications network and a smaller $10 millionpayload that was to have studied Halley's comet.
The purpose of the mission was to release andretrieve one satellite to study Halley's comet andlaunch another to become part of the space-basedshuttle communications network.
McAuliffe was to teach two 15-minute lessons onthe fourth day of the mission.
The launch was to have been the second of 15this year--by far the most ambitiousschedule in NASA's four-year-plus shuttle program.
"Obviously a major malfunction," was the firstword from NASA after the explosion, followingseconds of agonized silence.
After the initial blast, the slow motionvideotape replays showed an explosion of the hugeexternal fuel tank, which carried half a milliongallons of super-cold, super-volatile liquidoxygen and hydrogen. Challenger, dwarfed by thefuel tank, burst into pieces which rained into theAtlantic for 45 minutes.
Debris was so heavy that for several minutesNASA directed rescue craft to stay out of thearea