Speech on the Challenger Disaster
Ronald Reagan
January 28,
1986
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 member 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 an 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.”