Day 20 (28) of Blog365.
The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred 22 years ago today - where were you? I was home sick from school, watching my favorite soap opera, and saw it live on television. I recall it feeling slightly unreal. It was hard to make an emotional connection right away; that changed in the following days.
President Ronald Reagan's national address that evening paraphrased several lines from the poem "High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee, Jr., an aviator who died during WWII:
The crew of the space shuttleChallenger 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 good-bye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."
If you know me, you can probably guess my feelings about the Reagan years, but I feel this speech was one of his better moments.
5 comments:
I was in 7th grade. When the space shuttle exploded - we all went to the science room and watched the coverage. I think it hit home for us at school because of the teacher on board. I remember all the media coverage surrounding this event. Very sad day.
I was at home sick from school, too, and saw it live! I was on our couch in the living room, with our little tv balanced on the edge of the couch.
I was in high school, and we saw it live, as all our classes had taken a break to watch the launch, since there was a teacher aboard. I still remember that totally shocked feeling, seeing it happening. Thanks for remembering them.
I was just 6. I can almost remember this happening, but I do remember being in high school and having it in the history book.
(This seems like the wrong post to put this on, but I've nominated you for an award. Go see my blog for Monday's post!)
I was home sick, too! I remember being mad that my show (probably a soap!) was interrupted, but then felt guilty for being mad.
Did you know that "We Are the World" was recorded on January 28, 1985--23 years ago?!
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