Gladwell's Blowup

January 28, 1986, marks the day of the Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion. A day that will go down in history as a horrible tragedy for both NASA and America. Seven lives were lost that day, including the life of a high school teacher from New Hampshire. Former President Ronald Reagan was tasked with explaining this tragic event to the US people. Because of this, Reagan postponed the State of the Union Address and spoke about the Challenger Explosion instead. In his address to the nation about the explosion of the space shuttle, Challenger, President Ronald Reagan effectively commemorates the loss of the Challenger crew while also celebrating the crew’s achievements and encouraging further space travel by establishing pathos through his show of empathy, employing strong positive connotation, and alluding to the great explorer, Sir Francis Drake.

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.

Seventy three seconds into its 10th flight, on January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean, killing the seven crew members on board [1]. The Challenger was the second space shuttle constructed by NASA and had completed nine successful missions prior to the disaster. Following the accident, the shuttle program was suspended for 32 months as President Ronald Regan appointed a Commission, chaired by William P. Rogers and known as the Rogers Commission, to investigate the cause of the accident [1].

On January 28, 1986, a day that was supposed to be filled with excitement and exploration, suddenly turned into a day filled with tragedy and sadness. The space shuttle Challenger was supposed to carry a seven member crew into orbit with one unique member along for this particular mission. Christa McAuliffe was supposed to be the first teacher to go into space as a member of the Teacher in Space Project. Due to this occasion, the media coverage and the number of viewers of this mission was extensive, particularly in schools across the nation. The Challenger lifted off shortly after 11:30 A.M., but tragically only seventy three seconds after takeoff it exploded sending debris and the seven crew members back to earth and into the Atlantic

On the morning of January 28th, 1986, Americans watched in shock and horror as the space shuttle Challenger exploded only 74 seconds after its launch, killing all seven crew members on board including a high school teacher Christa McAuliffe. Thousands, including families of the crew and schoolchildren

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.

President, Ronald W. Reagan, in his speech, “Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger Address to the Nation,” Reagan expresses the grief and loss due to the tragedy that has occurred to the Challenger. Regan’s purpose was to acknowledge the terrible explosion of the Challenger, witnessed by majority of the people including children and killed all seven crew members: Michael Smith, Dick, Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa MC Auliffe; although despite such horrible incident, Regan had insisted that the nation should continue the space program. He adopts a empathetic and encouraging tone in order to show his consideration to the victimized families and to promote the continuation of the space program as a sign of moving forward. Therefore, in Reagan’s speech, he conveyed his empathy and the will to go on with the use of rhetorical devices such as ethos, pathos, allusion, and anaphora.

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.

On the morning of Janurary 28th 1986, the world witnessed in shock and horror what was known as the Challenger disaster as the space shuttle exploded only 73 seconds after its launch, killing all seven crew members onboard including one teacher Christa McAuliffe. Approximately 17 percent of Americans watched the live broadcast of this launch, many of them schoolchildren including those from McAuliffe’s school. From this grave moment emerged an exigency that demands immediate action by the president. Later on that same day, President Ronald Reagan delivered his Challenger address to the nation.

On January 28, 1996, the NASA shuttle orbiter mission STS-51-L and the tenth flight of Space Shuttle Orbiter broke apart 23 seconds after its launch, making it one of the most important events in the history of spaceflight in terms of its aftermath on the audience who witnessed the explosion. The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, claiming the lives of seven crew members. It was later found that two rubber O-rings had failed because of the cold temperatures on the morning of the liftoff. Family, friends, and millions of T.V viewers witnessed the explosion, which led president Ronald Reagan to address the accident. Reagan planned to give his State of the Union Address, but after learning of the Space Shuttle disaster he postponed it for a week and addressed the nation at the Oval Office late afternoon. By using rhetorical appeals in his address to the nation, Reagan effectively addresses the nation and crews’ families about the explosion while comforting, inspiring, and honoring the views through the use of rhetoric.

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

Gladwell compares his reasoning to more familiar ideas that help a common audience make sense of his argument and draw parallels between his own statements. Most of his ideas are considerably complex, and without proper clarification, a reader could easily get lost trying to make sense of his reasoning. From time to time, Gladwell incorporates vivid similes to keep his writing alive and compelling to the audience. To elaborate on his point that the root cause of plane crashes is unrelated to the plane’s mechanical stability, Gladwell states that, “The typical commercial jetliner—at this point in its stage of development—is about as dependable as a toaster” (183) . This statement would definitely stay in the mind of someone who is not very

Many people today can recall the moment of the Challenger disaster. Almost thirty years ago the U.S. watched in unbelief as the space shuttle Challenger exploded Seventy-three seconds after lift-off. The explosion of the space shuttle Challenger was historic but unfortunately predicted, changing the course of the U.S. Space Program. Another space shuttle that was destroyed was Columbia. The space shuttle Columbia (OV-102) was the first fleet orbiter to be delivered to Kennedy Space Center in March 1979.

On 1st of February, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia exploded when it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere after finished a 16 days mission in space. All seven astronauts were dead because of this incident. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had stopped the space shuttle program for more than two years to investigate this tragedy. In the 16 days period, the astronauts did approximately 80 experiments on different categories, for example, life science and material science [1]. An investigation later has found out that the disaster was caused by a problem on the day that took off on 16th of January.

they had to face when the problem was first noticed, which was as early as