It is 20 years since the Shuttle Challenger disaster. I was in the local park on that cold day and had heard on the radio that there had been an explosion involving the Shuttle but had no idea of the enormity of the incident until I got home in the early evening to see the news footage which would become endlessly repeated throughout the evening and in the following days and weeks. When I think back to the challenger disaster I am always reminded of President reagan’s address to the American nation that contained the moving words about the challenger crew who had…
“slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God”
Here in the UK, Reagan was perceived in much the way that George W Bush is perceived today only Bush now makes Reagan look statesman-like to a level of competency that was hard to attribute to him at the time. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.If he had better script writers, fine, but you still need something to read the words on the auto-cue in a way that sounds believable.
Either way I always remember this speech as one that seemed to say the right things at the time.
The BBC has Ronald Reagan’s speech to the American nation here:
(real player or compatible player required)
