Ronald Reagan's Tragic Hero

On January 28, 1986 seven crew members were killed when their shuttle exploded mid-flight. 74 year old Ronald Reagan was the president at the time of the incident. Reagan was only one year into his second term as president. He was fascinated with the space program so he played a big part in the rebuilding years after the tragedy. Ronald Reagan became the 40th president of the United States in 1981, although he did not originally start out as a politician. He was born in Tampico, Illinois on February 6, 1911. Reagan began as an entertainer and starred in over 50 films in Hollywood. This was where he met his wife Nancy. After spending 15 years in the film industry, Reagan moved on to bigger and better things. As his first position in politics, …show more content…
The Challenger did not explode, although it looked that way. The cold temperatures loosened a seal in the right solid-fuel rocket booster, causing hot gas to pour through the seal. The fuel tank then collapsed and as a result, liquid oxygen and hydrogen created a huge fireball around the shuttle; making it look like the Challenger exploded. The crew members did not die instantly. They most likely died of oxygen deficiency due to the loss of cabin pressure as they were descending. The Challenger stayed intact until about 65,000 feet and then began to fall apart and into the Atlantic Ocean, 19 years ago, the United States had lost three astronauts on the ground, but they had never thought to lose anyone mid-flight. This was NASA’s first in flight tragedy.
There were a little less than one hundred people at the live viewing of the launch, some of which being McAuliffe’s parents and her students. President Reagan had to explain the tragedy to the entire country over television; and with his previously being an actor, this was not a problem for him. On this day, Reagan was going to be the center of an event that will go down in history, along with the State of the Union Address from the Woodrow Wilson administration (Washington