Our heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe.
Posted on 01/28/2010 12:50:25 PM PST by free1977free
Where were you on January 28th, 1986? Were you in a classroom watching the first teacher go into space? Do you remember how you felt when you saw the Challenger explode soon after it left the earth?
CNN reports that about 17% of Americans were watching when the disaster occurred. One hour later, 85% had heard the news. It is estimated that 48% of 9-13 year-olds were watching.
Teacher Christa Macauliffe was supposed to be the first teacher in space, but she never made it. She died in the explosion along with the six astronauts accompanying her.
Most of today's moms are old enough to remember this event. Today is a good day to share this historical story with your children. It's also a good way to share an emotional story from your own childhood.
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 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 honoured 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 the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'
Thank you.
Ronald Reagan - January 28, 1986
High Flight
by John Gillespie Magee, Junior (June 9, 1922 – December 11, 1941)
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 nor 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.
I was at FT Polk, LA. I was in the company HQ building walking by the dayroom as folks gathered to watch the take-off on the TV.
About 30 of us spent most of the rest of the day glued to that same TV just incredulous at what had happened.
I was at home watching it on TV. I saw the explosion and waited for the Challenger to come out on the other side for what seemed like a long time. I finally realized that the booster rockets going off on strange trajectories and the debris meant that the Challenger had exploded.
It’s seems like it was only yesterday.
Thank God we had President Reagan.
If that had happened today, Obama would deny it occurred and go back to golfing. When pressed, he would then blame it on Bush.
I was in a hotel room with my mother and grandparents. We were getting ready to head over to my orthodontist to have my braces taken off and had the Challenger launch on.
Actually few, if any, of the crew died in the explosion. They were killed or knocked unconscious upon impact after minutes of free-fall, drowning thereafter if they weren’t already dead.
All because stupid bureaucrats decided to play with other people’s lives.
24 years later and nothing has changed.
I was working as a cop for the Welfare Department (now Dept Human Services) in Hamilton County Ohio.
I was at home. I worked B-shift at the time, so I was home during the daytime. My wife was home too and we were watching the launch. How awful it was when it Challenger exploded! I remember for a while the TV announcers were speculating about an escape pod. Of course, there was none.
RIP Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe, you are not forgotten.
I remember it vividly. I was cleaning the sink in Masterchief Smith’s stateroom, in the Chief’s quarters of the CGC Polar Sea, docked in Seattle, when the announcement came over the 1MC that the shuttle had exploded on takeoff. We all gathered in the messdeck to watch the coverage on the TV. I remember standing there with the XO... we were all just staring slackjawed. Couldn’t believe it. It was a real punch in the gut.
Reagan postponed his SOTU address, instead giving those wonderful remarks that evening. Wow, do I ever miss that man all of a sudden.
I was at home living in Hawaii, and getting my kids ready for school.
Just shocked.
Two historic events I watched after injuries from riding morotcycles. I was laying bed with a broken leg watching the Challenger launch 24 years ago today. I taken a turn too fast, lowsided and slid into a fence.
On September 11, 2001 I was being moved from the Intensive Care Unit to a regular room after coming out of a coma brought on by crashing my motorcycle into a car that ran a stop sign. A nurse turned on the TV in my room and I was being moved from the bed I was rolled out of the ICU on to the bed in the room when the second Tower was hit.
I saw it live looking out my office window 35 miles away. It was a clear day and the upper level winds were weak. The smoke and the exhaust cloud hung around for hours. You could actually see pieces falling from the cloud even at my distance from the explosion.
Saddest series of pictures I’ve ever seen is the one with Christa McCauliff’s family watching her go up. Her dad goes from proud parent to bewilderment and despair in a matter of seconds. He died of cancer a few years later and didn’t have the will to fight it. Her mother is still alive and goes around on lecture tours promoting space travel..
Where were you on January 28th, 1986?
Driving home from a college class. Flipped on the car radio and picked up a NASA press conference in mid stream. I could tell that obviously something very bad had happened but the guy giving the presser droned on in typical bureaucrat fashion and never really said exactly what. It was not till I reached home that my family told me.
I was standing on the sidewalk in the front yard with my mother. I still remember what jacket I had on that day, it was the heaviest jacket I had as a kid. I remember being confused at first as I saw the fireball and the solid rocket boosters diverge. I knew from previous launches that wasn’t supposed to happen, and my mom kept saying to herself, “where are they, why aren’t they getting out of there?” I realized something was wrong, but it wasn’t until my mom grabbed me and rushed me inside that I realized the astronaut’s lives were in mortal danger. She feared the shuttle might have been carrying toxic or nuclear material and might pose a danger to us since we only lived about 20 miles or less from the pad. We watched the replays on NASA TV and waited to make sure there were no evacuation announcements for the area near the space center.
A few days before this happened I actually had a dream about the shuttle exploding on the launch pad.
LOL... good grief. Hey, if you’re even in another motorcycle accident could you give us a heads-up that we should turn on the TV? ...or run for cover?
To this day I still have nightmares of shuttles exploding on launch or crashing on landing, but it was much worse when I was younger shortly after the event.
There were only about 10 people watching in the whole school, the best students I think. I was an awesome student because I was repeating the grade.
But I digress.
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