Challenger disaster, Reagan memorial address. Footage of the memorial service held on 31 January 1986 at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, USA, for those who died in the Challenger disaster. US President Ronald Reagan and his family, and the families of those who died, attended alongside 10, 000 others. The Challenger disaster occurred on 28 January 1986 when the Space Shuttle Challenger broke-up in a catastrophic failure during the launch of mission STS-51-L. An estimated 17 percent of Americans had watched the launch live. All seven on board the shuttle were killed: US astronauts Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair, US engineer Gregory Jarvis, and US high school teacher Christa McAuliffe. The 20-minute memorial service was broadcast live by all the major television networks, and included a speech by Reagan with his tribute to those he called the 'seven Challenger heroes'. The service concluded with NASA jets flying overhead with one jet pulling upwards to mark the dead in the traditional 'missing man' formation. |