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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
25 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 school children 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 an 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 their journey and waved goodbye,
and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God." |