Explosion Of The Space Shuttle Challenger Ethos

The office of President of the United States has become one of the most powerful and influential positions in the world.  A president has the power to set a legislative agenda, to veto a law, and to make crucial foreign policy decisions.  While all these capabilities are important, the most significant power of the presidency resides in his or her ability to respond to a national tragedy. Specifically, the president must provide comfort to a demoralized nation, commemorate the fallen Americans, and inspire hope.  No president fulfilled these tasks better than President Ronald Reagan during his “Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster Address” to the nation.  President Reagan comforted the nation, memorialized the seven casualties, and culminated hope for the future of space exploration all in a four-and-a-half-minute national address.  President Reagan’s address not only demonstrated the most important task of the President of the United States, but it also became a template from which future tragedy addresses would be given.

Thesis: In response to the Challenger disaster, President Ronald Reagan delivered a heartfelt speech, effectively using the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos to emotionally connect with the American public, honor the bravery of the Challenger crew, and advocate for the continuation of space exploration. I. Introduction A. Hook In immediate response to the Challenger explosion, President Ronald Reagan delivered a heartfelt speech to commemorate the lives of those onboard.

Reagan then reassured that the space program would continue to operate and “what happened today does nothing to diminish it”. This message sought to protect the ongoing space programs and was dedicated to the last sub-audience of his speech: the NASA people. He acknowledged their hard work and expressed sympathy for their loss of friends and coworkers.

After the seven astronauts, engineers, and Christa McAuliffe, a history teacher selected to be part of the mission, were killed in the terrible shuttle Challenger explosion, Ronald Reagan had the unbelievable job of explaining it to the country. Millions across the country were watching as the shuttle caught in flames and then exploded only 73 seconds after lift off. It was later determined that two rubber O-rings, designed to separate the sections of the rocket booster, had failed due to cold temperatures on the morning of the launch (http://www.history.com/topics/challenger-disaster). Reagan gave his speech at 5 pm on January 28, 1986 from the Oval Office at the White House, broadcasted live on nationwide radio and television. Reagan knew that he had to “make it plain to them that life does go on and you don’t back up and quit some worthwhile endeavor because of tragedy”. Reagan called in a relatively unknown speechwriter who would go on to pen some of the most famous phrases uttered by presidents, like President George H.W Bush’s “thousand points of light”, Peggy Noonan. Reagan started his speech simply with, “Today is a day for

”(Reagan) He reminds us that even though the deaths of the seven people onboard the Challenger are tragic, they must continue building and exploring space, even though they lost the lives of seven

Well known president, Ronald Reagan, in his address to the nation, “Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger,” expresses grief for the explosion of the Challenger. Reagan’s purpose is to commemorate the seven men and women, who lost their lives and offer hope to those who will continue to explore space. He creates a sad, yet hopeful tone in order to convey to America, we all mourn the loss of the Challenger Seven, but our space program will continue.

At 11:38 a.m. on the cool morning of January 18, 1986, tens of thousands of citizens around America huddled around TV screens to watch a miracle. But as the Challenger went up, every person jumped as they watched the space shuttle explode into a billion pieces! In order to comfort a grieving nation and honor the Challenger Seven, President Ronald Reagan appeals to emotions and utilizes repetition and parallelism to showcase his support for this country's devastating loss. While not making the biggest impact, President Reagan's use of repetition throughout his speech emphasizes the appeal to emotion while addressing the nation. Because of the tragic explosion of the challenger, all seven men's and women's lives were cut short.

On January 28, 1986, the United States eagerly watched as the Challenger Space Shuttle launched from Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral Florida. On board were seven crew members to include a teacher from New Hampshire. Within 73 seconds after liftoff the Challenger exploded, and it was followed by President Ronald Reagan's public national Challenger address. On this specific day, President Reagan had arranged to deliver the State of Union Address, but instead he spoke to the nation about the tragedy that just unfolded in front of millions of Americans eyes. President Reagan's Challenger speech offers encouragement and solace to all who was impacted and watched, he also commended the bravery of the seven heroic crew members while reassuring future space exploration.

The speech “Address to the Nation on the Space Shuttle Challenger Tragedy” has a very clear context. The author of this speech is American president Ronald Reagan in 1980s. The purpose of the speech is to announce a tragedy of the Space Challenger to the whole country, especially for their families and schoolchildren and people who worked in NASA. Meanwhile, president also wanted to memorize these seven persons and cheer up the space program. Finally, the audience of the speech is the whole Americans. The speech is given in Washington, and given by President Reagan; we can see this must a big accident in America. This speech tried to pacify all Americans

Rhetorical Analysis of Ronald Regan’s Speech In Ronald Regan’s “The Space Shuttle ‘Challenger’ Tragedy Address”, he persuades the audience to view the tragedy in a different way by using an appeal to emotion, authority, and logic. He does so by conveying a sincere tone and shows immense empathy for the fallen astronauts. He also shows a powerful sense of faith by truly siding with NASA in the sense of the detrimental losses and pioneership of the fallen on our advancing journey to space. Regan begins his address by appealing to the emotions of the American people, and more specifically the fallen astronauts' families. He began by conveying a strong sense of importance on the matter of these astronauts' fatalities.

On January 28th, 1986, Ronald Reagan, president of the United States, in his speech entitled “Challenger Disaster,” discusses the space shuttle tragedy. He supports this claim by first mourning the accident, then promoting NASA, tries to make sense of the disaster, and finally honors the astronauts. Through Reagan’s use of tone, rhetorical appeals, and rhetorical tools he effectively persuades Americans to mourn the loss, but also continue to move forward and support advancement.

While seated in the Oval Office of the White house, January 28, 1986 President Ronald Reagan delivers his speech The Challenger Disaster; hours after the space shuttle The Challenger explodes while in take off. Thousands witnessed this horrifying event live in person and on television. This mission was very unique allowing the first civilian to ever be allowed in space during a mission. She was aboard The Challenger as an observer in the NASA Teacher in Space Program. Ironically, nineteen years before this disaster, three astronauts were tragically lost in an accident on the ground. President Reagan remembers those astronauts that were lost not only the day of the disaster, but also those who were lost nineteen years before. He conducts

In the speech that Ronald Reagan gave about the Space Shuttle Challenger gave peace of mind to the nation that was mourning about such a devastating event that they witnessed. The Space Shuttle Challenger was the first space shuttle that had a normal person on it and was going to be a huge leap forward for the space program. But the shuttle had a malfunction and blew up during the employment of going into space. They were not sure what exactly happened when it blew up, they just knew that the whole nation just witnessed a tragic event live on the radio and television. It was Ronald Reagan’s job to address the grieving public about what happened and to express their condolences, but also express their strength that would carry the nation through.

On January 28, 1986 Ronald Reagan gave tragic news to American on the Shuttle Challenger Disaster. Ronald Reagan, as president, was planned to give the State of the Union address but it was delayed due to the disaster. Reagan instead had to give tragic news to American. President Ronald Reagan gave a speech using rhetorical appeals, expressing his feelings, describing his unplanned speech, and giving examples of how he wants his legacy to live on. Ronald Reagan’s speech was emotional and inspiring. He remembers those astronauts that were lost on the day of the disaster but also those who were lost nineteen years ago. Ronald Reagan concentrates on reassurance of the nation which makes the speech uplifting.

On January 28, 1986, as millions of Americans watched on live television and in person, the Challenger space shuttle exploded and broke up over the Atlantic Ocean just moments after its launch. This space mission was significant for several reason, among them was that it would be the first time where the space shuttle would carry a civilian into outer space. Also, there was a frenzy of interest for Americans as the U.S. and Russians were locked in a space race for space exploration supremacy. Instead. President Ronald Reagan was left with the unenviable duty of consoling a nation that had just witnessed the most significant disaster in American history.