CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Hundreds gathered at NASA’s launch site Friday to mark the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, receiving words of hope from the widow of the space shuttle’s commander.

The chilly outdoor ceremony drew space agency managers, former astronauts, past and present launch directors, family and friends of the fallen crew – and schoolchildren who weren’t yet born when the shuttle carrying a high school teacher from Concord, N.H., erupted in the sky.

The accident on Jan. 28, 1986 – just 73 seconds into flight – killed all seven on board, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.

June Scobee Rodgers, the widow of Challenger’s commander, Dick Scobee, urged the crowd to “boldly look to the future” not only in space travel, but in space and science education. She was instrumental in establishing the Challenger Center for Space Science Education.

“The entire world knew how the Challenger crew died,” she said. “We wanted the world to know how they lived and for what they were risking their lives.”

Rodgers and NASA’s space operations chief, Bill Gerstenmaier, placed a memorial wreath of red, white and blue-tinted carnations at the base of the Space Mirror Memorial. The 42-foot-tall gleaming mirrored slab of granite bears the names of all 24 astronauts killed in the line of duty over the years — 17 of those in U.S. spacecraft.

Dennis and Pat Cassidy of Franklin, N.H., blinked back tears as Rodgers spoke. Pat Cassidy recalled the joy she felt when McAuliffe was named as NASA’s teacher in space – she screamed she was so excited. When Challenger was lost, she couldn’t stop crying.

“Geez. You never expected it to happen. We never expect these kinds of things to happen, I guess,” she said, clutching a red rose.

Her husband recalled after the initial shock, feeling so badly for McAuliffe’s family, all present at the launch: her husband, two children and her parents. “All I could do was say a prayer for the family. And that’s what they should do today, say a prayer for the families.”

The Cassidys, wintering in Florida, made a point to be at the ceremony.

So did Peggy Shecket, who traveled from Cleveland. Her friend Judith Resnik was aboard Challenger that freezing morning. Shecket was a suburban Ohio mom with two sons. Resnik had become the second American woman in space. But Resnik invited Shecket to the launch, and she went.

“I miss her terribly,” Shecket said. “At this age, in our 60s, we could have gone to ladies’ weekends together. She probably would have had time that she didn’t have 25 years ago because she was so busy.”

Kathryn Serene drove four hours from Savannah, Ga., early Friday to attend the 9 a.m. ceremony. She brought a homemade basket bearing a paper model space shuttle, red, white and blue silk flowers, and a large red apple, which she left at the base of the memorial. She was in middle school when the accident occurred, and wanted to show her respects all these years later.

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