European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 30, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stars and stripes wednesday april 30,1986 challenger Crew remains arrive in Dover Dover fab Del. A military personnel and civilians stood in silence tuesday As the remains of the space shuttle challenger s seven astronauts arrived aboard a giant military transport plane to be readied for cremation or burial. A 37-Membcr Honor guard stood at at Tention along with a six member color guard bearing the american Navy air Force and Nasa flags As the seven Flag draped caskets were unloaded from a c-141 aircraft into seven Silver hearses lined up along the runway. The remains were taken to the base mortuary where they will be prepared in accordance with the families wishes Nasa said. At Cape canaveral fla., earlier tues Day thousands of space Center workers Many in tears silently lined roadways As seven hearses carried the bodies from a medical Laboratory to the plane waiting on a Concrete runway built for triumphal space shuttle landings. The largest crowds were outside the Ken Nedy space Center Headquarters building and near the huge hangar where shuttles arc assembled. At the runway with a military Honor guard standing at attention the coffins were loaded one by one onto the plane. Seven astronaut escorts accompanied the bodies to Delaware. There were no bands no speeches just silence. At 9 34 a.m., the aircraft departed three months and one Day after challenger exploded nine Miles above Earth As most of those who were Here tuesday watched i horror. The Dover mortuary is the East coast receiving and embalming site for remains of government employees military personnel or their relatives. In most cases autopsies Are performed at the site of death and embalming cremation or preparation for Bur Ial takes place in Delaware. Among those treated there were the 237 . Servicemen killed in the 1983 Beirut Lebanon terrorist bombing the 256 sol Diers killed in the december jetliner crash in Newfoundland and the 913 people s the remains of a space shuttle challenger Crew member Are carried by an Honor guard at the Kennedy space Center in Florida. Temple members who committed suicide at Jonestown Guyana in 1978. Officials at Dover said the mortuary work should take about a Day and that the remains will be sent wherever the Astro nauts families wish. Killed in the Jan. 28 explosion were Francis r. Dick Scobee 46, the space Craft commander Navy cmdr. Michael j. Smith 40, the Pilot specialists Judith a. Resnik 36 Ronald e. Mcnair 35 and air Force it. Col. Ellison s. Onizuka 39 Gre gory b. Jarvis 42, a Hughes aircraft Engi Neer and Christa Mcauliffe 37, a new Hampshire schoolteacher and Nasa s first private citizen in space. An official at Arlington National Ceme Tery said monday that Smith will be buried there saturday with full Navy honors and Scobee on May 19, which would have been his 47th birthday. Jarvis family said his body would be Cre mated at Dover and the ashes would be flown to his Home in Hermosa Beach calif., where his widow Marcia and friends will Sprinkle them into the Pacific Ocean from a Sailboat. Onizuka s family has said it wants to return his body to his Home in Hawaii for burial. Interment plans for the others have not been disclosed. The burials will add to the painful moments the families have suffered since the tragedy including numerous memorial services and heavy Media attention that has focused on the Accident. Perhaps most painful has been the Long wait for the release of the bodies necessitated by the Long time it took to find the remains and recover them from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean 18 Miles offshore. Divers who retrieved the bodies reported they were not recognizable. As a result forensic experts had a difficult time making identifications. _ men cations. Murderers a Ven right to offer mitigating evidence Washington a convicted murderers trying to escape a death sentence May not be barred from presenting evidence that they were Model prisoners while awaiting trial the supreme court ruled tuesday. The court unanimously set aside the death sentence of a convicted South Carolina murderer ruling that he was wrongly denied a Chance to assert All mitigating Circum stances factors pointing to life in prison rather than death As the appropriate punishment. South Carolina officials will have to conduct a new sentencing trial for Ronald Deroy skipper convicted of the nov. 1, 1982, strangulation of Maryanne Wray i Garden City. After his conviction and during his first sentencing trial skipper tried unsuccessfully to introduce testimony from three witnesses that he had made a Good adjustment to jail during the seven months before his trial. Writing for the High court Justice Byron r. White said the Only question before us is whether the exclusion from the sentencing hearing of the testimony skipper proffered regarding his Good behaviour. In jail. Deprived him of his right to place before the sentence relevant evidence in mitigation of  White added it can hardly be disputed that it  in a series of earlier rulings the court had said that any aspect of a convicted murderer s character or record and supreme court Roundup any circumstances of the crime May be introduced As a mitigating Factor during a sentencing trial. Tuesday s decision did not appear to be a major expansion of those rulings. Chief Justice Warren e. Burger Justice Lewis f. Pow Ell and Justice William h. Rehnquist joined in voting to set aside skipper s death sentence but for a different reason than the one cited by White. In a concurring opinion by Powell the three said they think skipper was denied his right to rebut a prosecutor s argument that he would be a disciplinary problem if sentenced to prison. In other matters the court ruled unanimously in a Case from Baltimore that an unloaded handgun is a dangerous weapon when used in Holdup. Backed out of deciding what rights Federal workers have to Challenge a government Agency s hiring private companies for some jobs. Heard arguments in a new York Case that states should be free to close Down for lengthy periods of time adult bookstores found to be Public nuisances. Heard arguments in a Case from los Angeles Over the constitutionality of communities granting exclusive Cable television franchises. Eastern airlines reports $110.6 million is Quarter loss \ of i a it i a. A9