Ronald Reagan: "Challenger" Tragedy Address (20 Years Ago Today)

www.americanrhetoric.com ^ | January 28, 1986

[randog]

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."

One of the great Reagan lines.

[new yorker 77]

I played the video link of this speech on Full Screen on my computer.

It is just as powerful today.

[new yorker 77]

I saw Scobee's son speack on C-Span today.

Man that guy looks just like his father.

[jocon307]

Thanks for posting this, it is good. May those who died that fateful day rest in peace.

[mozarky2]

The speech was written by Peggy Noonan, btw...

[new yorker 77]

That's why I did not fill in the name for author.

I believe she wrote it and Reagan added to it.

[metmom]

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?

[randog]

The speech was written by Peggy Noonan, btw...

I always wondered who wrote that. I knew that Peggy was a Reagan speechwriter, but I never put the two together.

[OldFriend]

Watched a good part of the CNN story on Christa McAuliff's family.

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.

[new yorker 77]

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.

[randog]

I never really heard what the final conclusions were on what happened to the atronauts. Does anyone know?

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.

[new yorker 77]

Roger M. Boisjoly

[OldFriend]

The astronaut cabin remained intact. It is believed that the astronauts lost consciousness about 15 seconds after the explosion. The theory is that the impact of the cabin hitting the water was what caused the death.

I doubt that the entire truth of when they died will be known.

Much as with the more recent shuttle tragedy.

[metmom]

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.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

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.

[new yorker 77]

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.

[OldFriend]

If I remember, the shuttle had been delayed ten times and the decision to go was based on a lot of external pressure on NASA.

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.

[lawgirl]

Wow- spoken in such everyday language and straight from the heart. No wonder it is so well remembered and touched us all.

[new yorker 77]

Roger spoke with such eloquence.

He went through step by step of the process.

He is a lesson in engineering ethics.

I carry his words to this day.

As engineers, every day citizens depend on our calculations.

We have to be right.

It must be safe.

There must be a factor of safety built in to avoid both wear and tear along with human error. All of this is balanced with cost. But costs should never superceed safety.