STS-51-L

Tribute

On the night of the disaster, United States President Ronald Reagan was supposed to give his State of the Union address. Instead, he postponed it for a week and gave a poignant national address from the Oval Office of the White House.http://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan/speeches/speech.asp?spid=23 At its end, he made the following statement, quoting 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." This speech has been remembered as one of the greatest addresses of his presidency. Three days later, he and his wife, Nancy traveled to the LBJ Space Center for a memorial service to honor the astronauts.

Related Topics:
United States - Ronald Reagan - State of the Union - Oval Office - White House - John Gillespie Magee, Jr. - Nancy - LBJ Space Center

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Nichelle Nichols of Star Trek was involved in the NASA recruitment process of Astronauts during the late 1970s to the early 80s and helped recruit both Ronald McNair and Judith Resnik. When ' was released it bore the dedication at the beginning, "The cast and crew of Star Trek wish to dedicate this film to the men and women of the spaceship Challenger whose courageous spirit shall live to the 23rd century and beyond....". One shuttlecraft from ' was named Onizuka, after Ellison Onizuka, one of the crew members of the Challenger.

Related Topics:
Nichelle Nichols - Star Trek - Shuttlecraft - Ellison Onizuka

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