23 years ago today
January 28th 2009 20:23
The Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 23 years ago today. I was in my 11th grade English class when an announcement about the explosion was made over the intercom. It was a real kick in the gut for a nation that was so proud to see a teacher go into space for the first time.
Rather than give the already scheduled State of the Union address, President Reagan spoke to the nation that night about the tragedy. In that speech, he quoted from the poem High Flight by John Gillespie Magee, Jr., who died at the age of 19 in World War II. On this 23rd anniversary, the poem still stands as a fitting and comforting tribute to those astronauts who lost their lives that day:
High Flight
by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air....
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor even eagle flew—
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
Rather than give the already scheduled State of the Union address, President Reagan spoke to the nation that night about the tragedy. In that speech, he quoted from the poem High Flight by John Gillespie Magee, Jr., who died at the age of 19 in World War II. On this 23rd anniversary, the poem still stands as a fitting and comforting tribute to those astronauts who lost their lives that day:
High Flight
by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air....
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor even eagle flew—
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
| 51 |
| Vote |
Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
Comment by PopulistConservative
Angry Electorate
Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief