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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 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 take-off. I know
it's 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 three hundred and ninety
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 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 prepared for their journey
and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth"
to "touch the face of God."
Thank you.
 
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