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What Is The Impact Of Ronald Reagan's Speech On The Challenger Disaster

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Since the 1960s, America has send many astronauts into outer space on different space shuttles to learn more about the world that is beyond the home planet Earth. Over the years, Americans’ pride and confidence in their space program had arisen as a result of several consecutive astronomical accomplishments. Nonetheless, accidents do take place sometimes. One of these times would be January 28th, 1986. On this day, the space shuttle Challenger has exploded 73 seconds succeeding its takeoff, claiming the life of seven members aboard, Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Sharon Christa McAuliffe. This sudden news traumatized countless people across the country. Consequently, Ronald Reagan, the president at the time gave a speech specifically about the disaster. He spoke and …show more content…

The oration was momentary; it only lasted for a little more than four minutes and added up to just 650 words in total. Nevertheless, it was concise and efficient in serving its purpose. Through the brief speech, Reagan not only alleviated the despair suffered by the different groups of audience, but also retained the nation’s spirit in space exploration: “We mourn their loss as a nation together…I’ve always had great faith in and respect for our space program, and what happened today does nothing to diminish it.” As the top leader of the country, Mr. Reagan demonstrated his support for more research and discovery, and were trying to convince the rest of the American population to do the same. In addition, the brilliant ending of the speech casted a strong impression on the people. He quoted a phrase from the poem “High Flight” written by John Magee, “…to touch the face of God.” It leads the audience into viewing the positive outcome of the accident and gives the speech its

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545 Words | 3 Pages

Introduction- Thesis Statement: Millions of people around the country tuned in to watch the Challenger shuttle launch on January 28, 1986. However, only seventy-three seconds into the launch, the shuttle exploded. The Challenger crew was composed of seven astronauts including the first teacher in space, the second American woman, the second African American man, and the first Asian American in space. Three major effects of the Challenger explosion include the investigation of NASA safety procedures, new innovations in shuttle design and composition, and an attempt from NASA to further reduce risk during spaceflight.

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Later that night President Ronald Reagan came on air to give the State of the Union address and talk on the tragedy that had just unfolded. Through this speech President Reagan consoles the families of those who lost their lives, the American schoolchildren, and the American public as a whole. He also gives this speech to reassure America of the viability of the NASA program and the light in the future. By the use of rhetorical skill, including analogy, strong emotional appeals, and his position of power, President Reagan manages to convince America that despite the tragedy the benefits of keeping a space exploration program greatly outweigh the losses.

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In my opinion this helps comfort the families by informing them that we all stand with them One example of this is when Reagan says “But we feel the loss” in the fourth paragraph. Also Reagan strays away from the negative aspect of the disaster. The focus of staying positive provides a sense of purpose. Regan explains how the “seven” was full of courage and that they died doing what they

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Reagan's speech served solely to pay tribute to the members of the Challenger crew and to the families of the crew that had passed away and to commemorate their great loss that they had endured, and the whole country at large. The speech given on the same day as the disaster was intended to provide guidance and comfort to a nation in grief, as well as to fill the void left by the cancelled State of the Union address. The speech was titled "Explosions of the Space Shuttle Challenger", which skillfully combines the use of ethos and pathos. Reagan uses the names of the seven astronauts to put a face on the disaster and let the country join in the national grief and lamentations. His citation of the crew's courage and spirit of adventure encourages and unites the people that were behind the aspiration for space exploration.

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Highly concentrates on the families’ feeling, Reagan providing a sesnse of closeure to the audience with his declaration that “you who flew so high and so proud now make your home beyond the stars, safe in God’s promise of eternal life,” the eulogy is not filled with grief. He also addresses a considerable portion of his speech to the lives of the “Challenger Seven; satisfied the need to commemorate a life. The importance of the lives of the crew has focused by Reagan “the best we can do is remember our seven astronauts-our Challenger-Seven remember them

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Why do we take risks? People take risks because, "Taking risks can change you fundamentally. They make you braver, stronger, and more confident. They show that you have what it takes to make a decision, commit, and create the life you want. You build faith in yourself knowing you have done it before and can do it again.

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Brandon and Kaisen Mrs. Coleman 6th hour 27 January 2023 BOOM! The crowd was silent as the Challenger Shuttle went down in flames. “Disaster in the Sky” and the History Channel have many differences and similarities in their story about the Challenger disaster. In "Disaster in the Sky" and the History Channel they both mentioned how the O-rings broke. While “Disaster in the Sky” said they couldn’t launch until three years later the History Channel said they only needed to wait two years.

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This speech was intended to inform America of the Challenge disaster. Reagan used specific pronouns to address the audience. He focused a lot on the individuals that lost someone due to this dismal occurrence. One thing that he said specifically to those close to the astronauts was, “Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace” (3). He said this to honor the astronauts and explicate how wondrous the seven astronauts were.

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Justin Tindall, Diana Velasquez, Ezekiel Gerler Mrs. Coleman 6th hour 27 January 2023 The Challenger disaster was the first mission to go sideways for NASA. There are similarities and differences between the “Disaster in the Sky” and the History channel's personal account of the story. In both of the articles it talks about what Ronald Reagan did to help America get through this time. In “Disaster in the Sky” they talk more about NASA knowing of the problem with the O-ring.

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Challenger On January 28, 1986 a disaster began that would be known as the Challenger Disaster. “Disaster in the Sky” and “History Channel” have similarities and differences. Both “Disaster in the Sky" and “History Channel” talk about how the Challenger had to get better rocket blasters. On the other hand, only “Disaster in the Sky" talked about how NASA was warned not to launch the Challenger.

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The Space Shuttle Challenger was a terrible shuttle explosion on January 28, 1986. 7 lives were lost. Ronald Reagan said about the crew “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 got ready for their journey and waved good-bye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God. ”. I wanted to learn more about the disaster.

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As well, figurative language in his speech showed the passion and bravery the astronauts had. “As they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of god’” (8). His use of personification justifies to all citizens that the journey that turned into a disaster was not their last. It was only the beginning for them.

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Since the Challenger crew were able to pursue their mission with courage, it is now the future generation’s turn to undertake where they have left off, and finish where they started. Overall, Ronald Reagan took advantage of his enormous platform to give a national eulogy in order to alleviate the pain caused by the loss of the Challenger seven. Raegen pursues his delivery with the use of rhetorical devices such as Pathos and Parataxis in order to appeal to his audience’s emotions while at the

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844 Words | 4 Pages

On September 12, 1962, at Rice University in Houston Texas, John F. Kennedy gave a powerful speech to garner support for the funding of the space race for the USA. He stated the importance of putting a man on the moon before the end of the decade in its efforts against the Soviet Union and the expectation was met in 1969 by the astronaut Neil Armstrong. His speech forged a new path that the US was heading and inherently started the revolution of the exploration of outer space. Kennedy’s “Moon Speech” makes use of ethos and Kairos to persuade the people of America to become interested in and invest in the ongoing space race. A very important factor in JFK’s speech was his effective use of rhetoric, notably ethos, which he used to make himself become more believable and authoritative.

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On January 28th 1986 the space shuttle Challenger launched and exploded only 73 seconds into flight shocking the world and killing the crew of seven. This disaster left the NASA community and its various engineering teams baffled to explain the disaster and some not surprised; while all wanted answers to questions as to why and how this disaster could have occurred, while some already held the data on what could have been the factors for disaster. 2 Research performed indicates there were a number of communication problems both internally with NASA and their Engineering team at Morton –Thiokol Engineering that lead to the disaster in question, specifically poor communication between NASA and the Engineering firm Morton –Thiokol Engineering, the designer of the Solid Rocket Booster (SRB), that was discovered after the accident through analysis of existing and post launch data. More specifically this paper will discuss engineering concerns about O-ring design of the (SRB) brought to the attention of NASA

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