space shuttle

RonaldReagan：TheSpaceShuttle"Challenger"TragedyAddress

"We'illbemoreshuttleflights……morevolunteers，morecivilians，more

teachersinspace."

LadiesandGentlemen，I'dplannedtospeaktoyoutonighttoreportonthestateoftheUnion，buttheeventsofearlier

ndIarepainedtothecore

trulya

nationalloss.

Nineteenyearsago，almosttotheday，'venever

'hapswe'veforgottenthecourageittookforthecrewof

y，theChallengerSeven，wereawareofthedangers，butovercamethemanddidtheirjobsbrilliantly.

Wemournvenheroes：MichaelSmith，DickScobee，JudithResnik，RonaldMcNair，EllisonOnizuka，Gregory

Jarvis，ntheirlossasanationtogether.

Forthefamiliesoftheven，wecannotbear，asyoudo，eeltheloss，and

we'vedonesweredaringandbrave，andtheyhadthatspecialgrace，that

specialspiritthatsays，"Givemeachallenge，andI'llmeetitwithjoy."Theyhadahungertoexploretheuniverand

shedtorve，rvedallofus.

We''twenty-fiveyearstheUnitedStatesspace

'vegrownudtotheideaofspace，and，perhapsweforgetthatwe'veonlyjust

'，themembersoftheChallengercrew，werepioneers.

AndIwanttosaysomethingtotheschoolchildrenofAmericawhowerewatchingthelivecoverageoftheshuttle'stake-

t'shardtounderstand，'sallpartoftheprocessofexploration

'sallpartoftakingachanceandexpandingman'uredoesn'tbelongtothefainthearted；it

llengercrewwaspullingusintothefuture，andwe'llcontinuetofollowthem.

I'thappenedtodaydoesnothingtodiminishit.

Wedon'''sthe

wayfreedomis，andwewouldn'tchangeitforaminute.

We'illbemoreshuttleflightsandmoreshuttlecrewsand，yes，more

volunteers，morecivilians，gendshere；ourhopesandourjourneyscontinue.

IwanttoaddthatIwishIcouldtalktoeverymanandwomanwhoworksforNASA，orwhoworkedonthismissionand

tellthem："Yonowofyouranguish.

Weshareit."

There'daythreehundredandninetyyearsago，thegreatexplorerSirFrancisDrake

ifetimethegreatfrontiersweretheoceans，andahistorianlatersaid，"He

livedbythea，diedonit，andwasburiedinit."Well，today，wecansayoftheChallengercrew：Theirdedication

was，likeDrake's，complete.

Thecrewofthespaceneverforget

them，northelasttimewesawthem，thismorning，astheypreparedfortheirjourneyandwavedgoodbyeand"slipped

thesurlybondsofearth"to"touchthefaceofGod."

Thankyou.