Ronald Reagan and the Challenger Disaster
It was 27 years ago today, on January 28, 1986, that the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after the launch of its tenth mission, resulting in the death of all seven crew members. Challenger was destroyed as it broke up in mid-flight at 11:38:00 am Eastern Standard Time. The breakup was caused by the failure of an O-ring on its right solid-fuel rocket booster. The O-rings are used to seal the joints between the multiple segments of the boosters. The failure was due to a variety of factors, including unusually low temperatures prior to liftoff. This allowed a plume of flame to leak out of the booster and impinge on both the external fuel tank and the attachment strut. This caused both structural failure of the fuel tank resulting in a rapid release of hydrogen, creating a forward thrust of about 2.8 million pounds and pushing the tank up into the intertank structure which connects the liquid hydrogen tank and liquid oxygen tank. This was followed by an almost explosive burning of the hydrogen combined with oxygen leaking from the intertank.
Killed in the disaster were:
Francis R. Scobee – Mission Commander
Michael J. Smith – Pilot
Ellison S. Onizuka – Mission Specialist 1
Judith A. Resnik – Mission Specialist 2
Ronald E. McNair – Mission Specialist 3
Christa McAuliffe – Payload Specialist 1
Gregory B. Jarvis – Payload Specialist 2
That night, President Ronald Reagan had been scheduled to give his annual State of the Union address. He initially announced that the address would go on as scheduled, but then postponed the State of the Union address for a week and instead gave a national address on the Challenger disaster from the Oval Office of the White House. It was written by Peggy Noonan, and is considered one of Reagan's greatest addresses. It finished with the following line, which quoted from the poem "High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.:
"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.'"
Following is a YouTube video of Reagan's address:
Three days later, Reagan and his wife Nancy traveled to the Johnson Space Center to speak at a memorial service honoring the astronauts where he stated: "Sometimes, when we reach for the stars, we fall short. But we must pick ourselves up again and press on despite the pain." The ceremony was attended by 6,000 NASA employees and 4,000 guests, as well as by the families of the crew. During the ceremony, an Air Force band led the singing of "God Bless America" as NASA T-38 Talon jets flew directly over the scene, in the traditional missing-man formation. The ceremony was broadcast live by the national television networks.
President Reagan would mention the Challenger astronauts at the beginning of his State of the Union address on February 4.
Killed in the disaster were:
Francis R. Scobee – Mission Commander
Michael J. Smith – Pilot
Ellison S. Onizuka – Mission Specialist 1
Judith A. Resnik – Mission Specialist 2
Ronald E. McNair – Mission Specialist 3
Christa McAuliffe – Payload Specialist 1
Gregory B. Jarvis – Payload Specialist 2
That night, President Ronald Reagan had been scheduled to give his annual State of the Union address. He initially announced that the address would go on as scheduled, but then postponed the State of the Union address for a week and instead gave a national address on the Challenger disaster from the Oval Office of the White House. It was written by Peggy Noonan, and is considered one of Reagan's greatest addresses. It finished with the following line, which quoted from the poem "High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.:
"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.'"
Following is a YouTube video of Reagan's address:
Three days later, Reagan and his wife Nancy traveled to the Johnson Space Center to speak at a memorial service honoring the astronauts where he stated: "Sometimes, when we reach for the stars, we fall short. But we must pick ourselves up again and press on despite the pain." The ceremony was attended by 6,000 NASA employees and 4,000 guests, as well as by the families of the crew. During the ceremony, an Air Force band led the singing of "God Bless America" as NASA T-38 Talon jets flew directly over the scene, in the traditional missing-man formation. The ceremony was broadcast live by the national television networks.
President Reagan would mention the Challenger astronauts at the beginning of his State of the Union address on February 4.