I was sitting console monitoring this launch. Sad day. :-(
A few hours after the disaster, President reagan delivered this speech to the American people via nationwide radio and television. --
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 25 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 school children of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is 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 390 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 good-bye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."
Hard to believe it's been 20 years. I can remember sitting in my desk in 2nd grade watching the replay over and over and over, and then went home and watched it all night.
I must have got my fill because to this day I can't watch it. I turn away when they show it on TV. But I can still see it vividly in my mind.
God bless the Challenger 7, Columbia 7 and the Apollo I 3. This has to be NASA's worst week.
Way back then my Mother was very sick.
She loved to watch "Price is Right" but the chemo she was taking made it nearly impossible so I made a habit of setting it up on the VCR so she could watch it anytime she wanted.
Still have the tape of that day, a lot younger Bob Barker and Dan Blather.
Watching it right now, as I have on every anniversary of the disaster.
what a sad day :(
i remember it well!
I was a young day care teacher that day, and SOOOOO excited that a teacher was going into space!! I had the tv all set up in my classroom and we were counting down with the announcer--then feeling total shock as I realized what happened--and then trying to explain to a room full of 4 year olds what had just happened. :*(
Felt the same way a few years ago explaining to my 2 year what had just happened to the Columbia. :*(
Prayers for the families of all those heroes lost.
Probably the most eloquent words ever spoken by Ronald Reagan.
The College of Engineering (Marquette) cancelled classes the next day. The following day classes resumed, but all the professors wanted to talk about was the accident. It reminded them of the shock of Sputnik.
Two years later, I was off in grad school finishing my Masters, when the shuttle Discovery was launched. We had a nice satellite dish at the Ham Radio station, so I put out word via Usenet that anyone was welcome to watch the launch. The first person to show (at 0600) was an undergrad who was interested in space, and who is now my wife!
ping
I remember it as if it were yesterday. The teacher on board was from my area, and I drive by a school named after her quite often.
"High Flight"
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
i remember the face of Christa McAuliffe's mother... it seemed she didn't know what happened at first... how could she? it seems it took an eternity for the realization of what happened to sink in for everybody watching...
Peggy Noonan wrote that speech, and Reagan made it his own. It is the best speech I have ever heard.
I will never forget that day. Tears and prayers for all of them. It's difficult to believe it's been 20 years.
I remember that day...I was working at SHOWTIME/THE MOVIE CHANNEL in NY...there were TV monitors throughout our office...Jay Hermann (I've never thought or said his name in the past two decades until now), looked at me and he had tears in his eyes. He told me what happened. The whole office went quiet.
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