With our electronic gear packed in the rented Mustang’s trunk, we headed back up the Bee Line expressway through its frequent toll plazas and for a time it seemed out of civilization. The next morning, Friday, found Jim and I at the hotel restaurant eating a buffet of scrambled eggs and sausage before making the Cape ride. I sent a report by telephone with a clip of the interview and a promotional announcement promising continuing coverage until the big day, now scheduled for Saturday, but threatened with another delay because of an approaching weather front. Beauvais was exuberant upon landing in the warm climate after leaving frigid New England. Beauvais was Christa McAuliffe’s boss before her selection as NASA’s first teacher in space, and he too, along with a large delegation of New Hampshire educators, was sent to Florida to witness the flight. Landing in Orlando, we proceeded directly to the media telephones at the airport after briefly interviewing Concord Superintendent of Schools Mark Beauvais who was on our flight. The two stations have traded news stories for years, shared news staffs for elections and other events, and saw this opportunity as a culmination of our efforts to provide listeners back in New England with important on-location news coverage. I am employed by 50,000 watt WOKQ FM in Dover, and Jim for WEVO, New Hampshire Public Radio in Concord. We were both assigned by our radio stations to cover the historic event and decided to go together and share some of the costs. 24, 1986, our Eastern Airlines flight delayed about half an hour at Logan International Airport in Boston because of a last-minute mechanical adjustment to the plane. Jim and I landed at Orlando International Airport around 3 p.m. My associate Jim Van Dongen and I were to make that trek over flat, palm tree-dotted marshes and woodland four times during these five days in the hope of seeing a New Hampshire neighbor turned celebrity make a long-awaited journey into space. The spaceport at Cape Canaveral is huge and spread out, with miles of flat roadbed surrounded by swamps and wildlife areas separating the outermost gate and the space shuttle launch pad. By Roger Wood, įlorida’s Kennedy Space Center is an hour and a quarter drive from Orlando and was to be my temporary home for the week. is reprinting Roger Wood’s journal about covering the tragic events of Jan. 28, 1986, was to be a joyous day for her family and the state of New Hampshire. Months before, I interviewed Christa during a celebration parade in her home town. After the lopsided loss, I said to the other reporters, “At least tomorrow will be a great day for New England.” I was referring to the history-making flight of Concord High School teacher Christa McAuliffe, who had been chosen from a nationwide pool to be the first teacher in space aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. 27, 1986, I sat in a motel room in Florida watching the New England Patriots get trounced 45 to 3 by the Chicago Bears in their first Superbowl Appearance.
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