Posted on 01/28/2006 7:09:06 PM PST by new yorker 77
"We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights...more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space."
Video LINK: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/rreaganchallenger.htm
SPEECH:
Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.
Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never lost an astronaut in flight. We've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle. But they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together.
For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, "Give me a challenge, and I'll meet it with joy." They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us.
We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for twenty-five years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and, perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.
And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's take-off. I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.
I've always had great faith in and respect for our space program. And what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don't hide our space program. We don't keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change it for a minute.
We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.
I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA, or who worked on this mission and tell them: "Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it."
There's a coincidence today. On this day three hundred and ninety years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and a historian later said, "He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it." Well, today, we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete.
The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."
Thank you
One of the great Reagan lines.
I played the video link of this speech on Full Screen on my computer.
It is just as powerful today.
I saw Scobee's son speack on C-Span today.
Man that guy looks just like his father.
Thanks for posting this, it is good. May those who died that fateful day rest in peace.
The speech was written by Peggy Noonan, btw...
That's why I did not fill in the name for author.
I believe she wrote it and Reagan added to it.
I read an article on MSNBC.com today that described the whole thing. The thing that I noticed that struck me as odd was that they mentioned that it was believed that the astronuats were alive when the cabin hit the water (at 200 mph) I never really heard what the final conclusions were on what happened to the atronauts. Does anyone know?
I always wondered who wrote that. I knew that Peggy was a Reagan speechwriter, but I never put the two together.
Lot of bitter angry feelings there.
Acting as if they were never aware that there could be risk or danger.
Kind of a sad way to memorialize their sister who followed her dream.
Let me tell you something about myself.
I am an engineer.
I met Roger M. Boisjoly at a college speech he gave to a class I was taking.
This was some years after the 1986 crash.
He was the engineer who pushed to stop the flight before hand.
He mentioned that they were likely all alive upon impact.
I saw a program last week that focused on the engineering debate to launch/not launch. They said that two of the astronauts enabled their emergency oxygen right after the blast, but they suspect that all died quickly due to the rapid de-pressurization of the cabin.
I doubt that the entire truth of when they died will be known.
Much as with the more recent shuttle tragedy.
Would they have survived the force of the impact as the shuttle hit the water? 200 mph is pretty fast and water is virtually incompressible. It doesn't seem likely but there were all kinds of strange reports in the days and weeks following the disaster.
Houston, Memorial Service:
As long as I live, I will never, ever forget the sight of watching on TV as Scobee's (?) daughter collapse in tears in President Reagan's arms and watching as he embraced her in his arms and just held her.
My God, what an effect that scene had on me.
I cried as if my own father had perished. I felt the comfort of President Reagan's embrace as strongly as I would have, had I been there.
Thank God for President Reagan. I consider him the greatest President of our lifetime.
I saw that program.
It does not jive with what likely happened to at least five of them who were locked into their pressure suits on lift off.
Scobee tried to fly that wingless comet. God Bless him.
If the shuttle was delayed that day, it would have had to be scrubbed for a month.
I remember seeing a headline in our daily newspaper that morning......WHEN WILL THAT TURKEY FLY.
Unfortunately, outside pressure leads to all kinds of errors in decision making. Small and large.
May all those who lost family members that day, find some peace.
Wow- spoken in such everyday language and straight from the heart. No wonder it is so well remembered and touched us all.
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