Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger Rhetorical Analysis, Christina Steele

On January 28 in 1986, NASA launched its 10^th Challenger Spaceship and watched its liftoff lasting for 73 seconds before exploding and killing its seven crew members. After the tragic failed space mission, president Ronald Reagan uses rhetoric to honor the team for dedicating their lives to the country’s future, and describes the accident as part of a journey for the more optimistic future to motivate, strengthen, and unify the United States.

Reagan demonstrates his ethos through his knowledge of a parallel structure of space travel failure when he notes the three lives lost in an earlier mission 19 years ago. By this mention, it is proven to the reader that he knows about experience with space travel of by being able to use different information from various missions. He is also given credibility to his knowledge of the subject due to his title as president and working closely with NASA ever since the race against the Soviets during the Cold War to get to the Moon first. In an effort to give an explanation to the public for the failure of the Shuttle’s mission, Reagan reasons and suggests that its possible the planners are still premature to the perils of space travel and over confident but states they are simply still “pioneers.”

Reagan draws upon the emotions of young children by praising the crew for their service to the nation in desiring to advance the future, and uses them as an example of the important of progress. In his speech, Reagan addresses a message to the younger children exposed to the failed mission, “I know it hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen.” He is showing logos through his honesty and integrity as a speaker by leaning on knowledge of his personal experiences. The painful experiences he has witnessed, have made him realize one can’t always win but worth it to try. He explains this to the children in an effort to help soften their grief and see the bright side of the effects of progress.

The president stresses pathos in concluding his argument by commemorating the fallen astronauts that worked in service for a better future. In his regard to the space program’s accomplishments he states, “We don't hide our space program. We don't keep secrets and cover things up.” By defending NASA he is showing his pride in the country’s ability to keep their policies honest because it exemplifies righteous. His repetition of using ‘we’ is to symbolize his country and unite it as one. Reagan identifies this as, “the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change it… our hopes and our journeys continue.” He uses the country’s honest system to assemble pride and unify it in the hopes to make it stronger and with hopes to gain support for future missions. He believes there is a journey for the more optimistic future so he hopes to unit the people, even though he realizes it will not be easy by the reminder of the commemorated seven fallen astronauts in the Space Shuttle Challenger.

Ronald Reagan believed the nations space explorations were a journey, believes the American cannot evade these astronomical failures, but in order to gain a brighter future they must, like the seven fallen, work for a more insightful future.