Posted on 01/28/2004 8:05:25 PM PST by Indy Pendance
Ronald Reagan's Funeral Eulogy for the Challenger Crew
Following is the text of President Reagan's remarks at a memorial service held in Houston following the Challenger disaster, Jan. 31, 1986. (From Houston Chronicle archives.)
We come together today to mourn the loss of seven brave Americans, to share the grief we all feel and, perhaps in that sharing, to find the strength to bear our sorrow and the courage to look for the seeds of hope.
Our nation's loss is first a profound personal loss to the family and the friends and loved ones of our shuttle astronauts. To those they have left behind - the mothers, the fathers, the husbands and wives, brothers, sisters, and yes, especially the children - all of America stands beside you in your time of sorrow.
What we say today is only an inadequate expression of what we carry in our hearts. Words pale in the shadow of grief; they seem insufficient even to measure the brave sacrifice of those you loved and we so admired. Their truest testimony will not be in the words we speak, but in the way they led their lives and in the way they lost those lives - with dedication, honor and an unquenchable desire to explore this mysterious and beautiful universe.
The best we can do is remember our seven astronauts - our ChallengerSeven - remember them as they lived, bringing life and love and joy to those who knew them and pride to a nation.
They came from all parts of this great country - from South Carolina to Washington State; Ohio to Mohawk, New York; Hawaii to North Carolina to Concord, New Hampshire. They were so different, yet in their mission, their quest, they held so much in common.
We remember Dick Scobee, the commander who spoke the last words we heard from the space shuttle Challenger. He served as a fighter pilot in Vietnam, earning many medals for bravery, and later as a test pilot of advanced aircraft before joining the space program. Danger was a familiar companion to Commander Scobee.
We remember Michael Smith, who earned enough medals as a combat pilot to cover his chest, including the Navy Distinguished Flying Cross, three Air Medals - and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star, in gratitude from a nation that he fought to keep free.
We remember Judith Resnik, known as J.R. to her friends, always smiling, always eager to make a contribution, finding beauty in the music she played on her piano in her off-hours.
We remember Ellison Onizuka, who, as a child running barefoot through the coffee fields and macadamia groves of Hawaii, dreamed of someday traveling to the Moon. Being an Eagle Scout, he said, had helped him soar to the impressive achievement of his career.
We remember Ronald McNair, who said that he learned perseverance in the cotton fields of South Carolina. His dream was to live aboard the space station, performing experiments and playing his saxophone in the weightlessness of space; Ron, we will miss your saxophone and we will build your space station.
We remember Gregory Jarvis. On that ill-fated flight he was carrying with him a flag of his university in Buffalo, New York - a small token he said, to the people who unlocked his future.
We remember Christa McAuliffe, who captured the imagination of the entire nation, inspiring us with her pluck, her restless spirit of discovery; a teacher, not just to her students, but to an entire people, instilling us all with the excitement of this journey we ride into the future.
We will always remember them, these skilled professionals, scientists and adventurers, these artists and teachers and family men and women, and we will cherish each of their stories - stories of triumph and bravery, stories of true American heroes.
On the day of the disaster, our nation held a vigil by our television sets. In one cruel moment, our exhilaration turned to horror; we waited and watched and tried to make sense of what we had seen. That night, I listened to a call-in program on the radio: people of every age spoke of their sadness and the pride they felt in `our astronauts.' Across America, we are reaching out, holding hands, finding comfort in one another.
The sacrifice of your loved ones has stirred the soul of our nation and, through the pain, our hearts have been opened to a profound truth - the future is not free, the story of all human progress is one of a struggle against all odds. We learned again that this America, which Abraham Lincoln called the last best hope of man on Earth, was built on heroism and noble sacrifice. It was built by men and women like our seven star voyagers, who answered a call beyond duty, who gave more than was expected or required, and who gave it with little thought to worldly reward.
We think back to the pioneers of an earlier century, and the sturdy souls who took their families and the belongings and set out into the frontier of the American West. Often, they met with terrible hardship. Along the Oregon Trail you can still see the grave markers of those who fell on the way. But grief only steeled them to the journey ahead.
Today, the frontier is space and the boundaries of human knowledge. Sometimes, when we reach for the stars, we fall short. But we must pick ourselves up again and press on despite the pain. Our nation is indeed fortunate that we can still draw on immense reservoirs of courage, character and fortitude - that we are still blessed with heroes like those of the space shuttle Challenger.
Dick Scobee knew that every launching of a space shuttle is a technological miracle. And he said, if something ever does go wrong, I hope that doesn't mean the end to the space shuttle program. Every family member I talked to asked specifically that we continue the program, that that is what their departed loved one would want above all else. We will not disappoint them.
Today, we promise Dick Scobee and his crew that their dream lives on; that the future they worked so hard to build will become reality. The dedicated men and women of NASA have lost seven members of their family. Still, they too, must forge ahead, with a space program that is effective, safe and efficient, but bold and committed.
Man will continue his conquest of space. To reach out for new goals and ever greater achievements - that is the way we shall commemorate our seven Challenger heroes.
Dick, Mike, Judy, El, Ron, Greg and Christa - your families and your country mourn your passing. We bid you goodbye. We will never forget you. For those who knew you well and loved you, the pain will be deep and enduring. A nation, too, will long feel the loss of her seven sons and daughters, her seven good friends. We can find consolation only in faith, for we know in our hearts that you who flew so high and so proud now make your home beyond the stars, safe in God's promise of eternal life.
May God bless you all and give you comfort in this difficult time.
It was a very cold day .....we had plans to go to a flea market for the day but they were closed due to the cold. So we stopped at a local market to shop and were told of the Challenger while standing in the checkout line.
What is amazing is I can still see everything from that day as clear as a bell in my minds eye.
A long day that was.
Rest in peace, Challenger crew.
I was living in New Paltz, NY, and I was at a local video store checking out their new releases. The woman behind the counter had WCBS-FM New York on the radio, which I was only kind of listening to. That is, until they came on with a special bulletin. It seemed there was an explosion aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger (this was the first report on this station), and it was feared all aboard had perished.
I slowly stood up, and turned to look at the woman. We just stared at each other until a guy ran into the store, asking if the TV in the store worked. The woman said yes, and he turned it on. It was NBC, and they showed the explosion, as they would so many times after. A few seconds went by and you heard a NASA tech say, "Obviously a major malfunction." Then it came back to Tom Brokaw, who added, "Obviously the understatement of the year."
I am not the crying type, but I immediately broke into tears. Thank God we had Reagan back then.
A common bumper sticker on campus was 'Tits for Fritz', for Geraldine Fitzgerald.
Ronald Reagan personally waved to me (I was the only R in a sea of Ds) on Riverside drive. I worked at Saab-Fiat-Pugeot as parts girl and stood well away from everybody else to wave at him.
This all happened within a few months, it seemed. I was born a Republican. The only one in a whole sordid family of Democrats.
I gave a memorial service for the fallen astronauts here in Houston at my parish, St. Cyril of Alexandria Catholic Church, with a concert performance by the West Point (my alma mater) Glee Club.
Several of my astronaut buddies attended.
You could not have evoked more tears!
Many thanks...
You're welcome, and no problemo. No, I didn't live in Chicago but I forgive you corporately for the United States of America. I'll even forgive the others that called me in NY for even worse purposes than drapes on your behalf.
I thought your plea deserved a response...I am the Queen of unresponded-to comments at FR!
(I'm sure many feel that way!) :-)
Of course, I'm also old enough to remember exactly where I was (Robin Mickle Jr. High) and what I was doing. (On lunch break from 8th grade English class) when JFK was shot. Mrs. Abel came back into the room after lunch with puffy and red eyes. She choked out the confirmation of the rumors we had heard in the halls. Then she cried some more. On a positive note, I also know exactly where I was when Neil Armstrong made that "Giant Leap for Mankind". I was at my (now) wife's grandparent's farm. Her parents and siblings were also there. It was a very small house, and I had to sleep in the back of my Dad's pickup (Which wasn't so bad, it had a cab high cover, with screened top vent and side windows you could open and a fairly comfortable bed.)
I also remember the Apollo 9 astronauts reading "Genesis" from Lunar orbit. Christmas 1968. And a bit earlier the Ranger probes crashing into the moon (on purpose!).
I don't have much of a memory of these although I was 8 years old. I think they didn't stick because they weren't unexpected traumatic events. I do remember watching the news about Reagan getting shot though.
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