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Visitors Flock to Astronauts' Memorial

Aired February 03, 2003 - 14:39   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Despite the fact that many Americans were blase about shuttle flights, barely knew when they launched or landed, there still was a large group of people waiting to see Columbia come home on Saturday morning. When it became apparent Columbia would not be landing, people started flocking to the astronaut memorial at the Kennedy Space Center. They're still coming to the wall there which, for the moment, bears 17 names. We'll get more on what's going on there from CNN's Gary Tuchman -- Gary.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Miles, hello to you. If you come to Central Florida and you want to tour the Kennedy Space Center, you can once again -- the tours were suspended for short time on Saturday. They are now operating once again, but keep in mind your tour guides, when they're conducting the tours, will be doing it with heavy hearts.

We do come to you from the memorial wall. Behind me, the 17 astronauts who died in service of the United States of America. Seven of the astronauts dying in aircraft as test pilots before they ever went into space, the other ten astronauts dying in the Challenger explosion in 1986, and the launch pad flash fire in 1967.

Right here there is a table. Condolence books have been out here for the last two days. People signing the most poignant of messages in these book that will ultimately go to the family members of the seven astronauts who perished on Saturday.

Two of the people who signed the book are standing right next to me, Jack and Barbara Little. They are from Port Saint Lucie, Florida, which is about an hour and a half south of here. I wanted to ask you, Jack, if you can look in the book, and tell me what you just wrote a short time ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wrote, "may all seven of you courageous souls rest in peace, Amen."

TUCHMAN: What made you decide to come here today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were passing by, and we just wanted to stop and see if there was some kind of a ceremony that we could participate in, and we're happy we did.

TUCHMAN: It's not really a ceremony, but this is where people are gathering and this is where the tears are being shed, and people are trying to come to terms with what happened, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. TUCHMAN: And I want to ask you, Barbara, when you heard the news that this space shuttle had crashed and that all seven astronauts had died, what did you think?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, we were just -- just -- just breathtaking, I guess. We were just -- you don't know what to say. It's a horrendous thing, and you just can't imagine that it could possibly happen, especially so close to earth, to landing, yes.

TUCHMAN: That's the heartache, that it was so close to landing, 16 minutes. And I know you in Port Saint Lucie, like a lot of Floridians, you could see the shuttles taking off, and you could see them landing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We watch them all the time. And this one, for some reason, we didn't see it go up. It went up during the daytime.

TUCHMAN: Final question I want to ask you. Do you think the space program -- the space shuttle program, should continue?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes, positively.

TUCHMAN: And that is one thing we're hearing from a lot of people. Littles, thank you for joining me. And maybe that is because their interest in the space program, that is why they come here in the first place. But people overwhelmingly are saying here, when they come to this memorial, and we talk to them, that they want the space program and the space shuttle program to continue.

One more thing I want to point out. After the Challenger disaster, and you know this, Miles, when the 2,000 jobs were lost here at Kennedy Space Center, people here are very worried that could happen again. This area is so linked to the space program. One small indication of how linked it is, when the area code system was expanded, the telephone area code here now is 321 in this area. The simple reason for that, before every launch, you hear "3, 2, 1" -- Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: Gary Tuchman live from the heart of the 321 area code.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired February 3, 2003 - 14:39   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Despite the fact that many Americans were blase about shuttle flights, barely knew when they launched or landed, there still was a large group of people waiting to see Columbia come home on Saturday morning. When it became apparent Columbia would not be landing, people started flocking to the astronaut memorial at the Kennedy Space Center. They're still coming to the wall there which, for the moment, bears 17 names. We'll get more on what's going on there from CNN's Gary Tuchman -- Gary.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Miles, hello to you. If you come to Central Florida and you want to tour the Kennedy Space Center, you can once again -- the tours were suspended for short time on Saturday. They are now operating once again, but keep in mind your tour guides, when they're conducting the tours, will be doing it with heavy hearts.

We do come to you from the memorial wall. Behind me, the 17 astronauts who died in service of the United States of America. Seven of the astronauts dying in aircraft as test pilots before they ever went into space, the other ten astronauts dying in the Challenger explosion in 1986, and the launch pad flash fire in 1967.

Right here there is a table. Condolence books have been out here for the last two days. People signing the most poignant of messages in these book that will ultimately go to the family members of the seven astronauts who perished on Saturday.

Two of the people who signed the book are standing right next to me, Jack and Barbara Little. They are from Port Saint Lucie, Florida, which is about an hour and a half south of here. I wanted to ask you, Jack, if you can look in the book, and tell me what you just wrote a short time ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wrote, "may all seven of you courageous souls rest in peace, Amen."

TUCHMAN: What made you decide to come here today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were passing by, and we just wanted to stop and see if there was some kind of a ceremony that we could participate in, and we're happy we did.

TUCHMAN: It's not really a ceremony, but this is where people are gathering and this is where the tears are being shed, and people are trying to come to terms with what happened, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. TUCHMAN: And I want to ask you, Barbara, when you heard the news that this space shuttle had crashed and that all seven astronauts had died, what did you think?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, we were just -- just -- just breathtaking, I guess. We were just -- you don't know what to say. It's a horrendous thing, and you just can't imagine that it could possibly happen, especially so close to earth, to landing, yes.

TUCHMAN: That's the heartache, that it was so close to landing, 16 minutes. And I know you in Port Saint Lucie, like a lot of Floridians, you could see the shuttles taking off, and you could see them landing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We watch them all the time. And this one, for some reason, we didn't see it go up. It went up during the daytime.

TUCHMAN: Final question I want to ask you. Do you think the space program -- the space shuttle program, should continue?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes, positively.

TUCHMAN: And that is one thing we're hearing from a lot of people. Littles, thank you for joining me. And maybe that is because their interest in the space program, that is why they come here in the first place. But people overwhelmingly are saying here, when they come to this memorial, and we talk to them, that they want the space program and the space shuttle program to continue.

One more thing I want to point out. After the Challenger disaster, and you know this, Miles, when the 2,000 jobs were lost here at Kennedy Space Center, people here are very worried that could happen again. This area is so linked to the space program. One small indication of how linked it is, when the area code system was expanded, the telephone area code here now is 321 in this area. The simple reason for that, before every launch, you hear "3, 2, 1" -- Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: Gary Tuchman live from the heart of the 321 area code.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com