Arguably, Kennedy’s most influential legacy for the emerging American space program was his portrayal of space as the final frontier. The continuation of Turner’s Frontier Thesis through a national space effort appealed to America’s nostalgic pioneering heritage and provided the country with a revived sense of identity and national unity through a new era of exploration. In his address at Rice University, Kennedy utilized frontier imagery to invoke a parallel between conquering the wilderness and exploring outer space: “Space is there, and we 're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And therefore, as we set sail we ask God 's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous …show more content…
The CBS Television Series Men Into Space, for example, glorified the ingenuity of man’s technological capabilities and the pioneering spirit of American astronauts. In the first episode, colonel Edward McCauley, leader of the fictional American space program, famously stated that “if a mountain exists, somebody has to climb it. The mountains on the Moon just happen to be a few hundred thousand miles higher” (Neufeld 17). Like Kennedy, McCauley alludes to George Mallory’s famous response about climbing Mount Everest “because it was there” (Jordan). In doing so, both Kennedy and the show Men Into Space led Americans to believe that the nation’s prestige was rooted in exploration and that space was a necessary continuation of that vision. Television also romanticized the heroism of space pilots, as seen in 1959 NBC’s television series The Man and the Challenge. In the show, fictional Dr. Glenn Barton described what kind of person should become an astronaut, which surprisingly resembled a western explorer: “We need highly specialized men, who will one day land on the Moon and neighboring planets. Who can withstand pain, terror, cold, heat, hunger, sleeplessness, weightlessness, and isolation” (Neufeld …show more content…
Open television coverage of America’s space program promoted the country’s image as a transparent democracy relative to the closed nature of the Soviet Union, but this strategy proved to be both high risk and high reward. Indeed, the 1957 Vanguard launch failure still haunted the public’s perception of the national space program until Mercury 1 launched off on May 5, 1961, and Alan Shepard became the first American to travel into space. The Mercury-redstone rocket was significantly less powerful than the Vostok N-7, but unlike its Soviet counterpart, the Mercury 1 mission was done in full view of the world from liftoff to splashdown (Allen 81). That in itself took a degree of courage on behalf of the United States that far surpassed that of the Soviet Union. CBS anchor Walter Cronkite summarized the American victory on the Eyewitness to History television broadcast that evening: “There is high drama in the risks a free nation is asked to take to publicize that effort. Today, America took a gamble and America won” (Allen 82). Cronkite highlighted the inherent danger of broadcasting space missions on television, but emphasized the importance of open coverage in America. Performing these space feats in full view of the world not only established America’s technological and military supremacy over the Soviet
Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States, in his speech “Explosion of the space shuttle “Challenger” address to the Nation” On January 28, 1986 honors the brave men and women who lost their lives in the space shuttle “Challenger”. His purpose was to honor the men and women who lost their lives in the explosion of space shuttle Challenger. Not only did Ronald Reagan addressed the issue, but he also comforted those who viewed the explosion of the space shuttle, and also honored the brave astronauts for their service to the nation. Ronald Reagan was very sincere when it came to delivering his speech, while in an empathy tone.
Regan manages to give the perfect model of a person that is able to reach high and achieve big things, as he states, “The future doesn't belong to the faint hearted: it belongs to the brave ''. In just a sentence, Regan is not only able to explain the mindset and traits of the astronauts that boarded the Challenger, but connect his logic on a broader scale. The same traits of the Challenger’s are what people need to reach towards the stars and achieve greatness. He manages to bring forth the idea that it ''s those that are not worried about facing challenges, but instead are ready to face challenges, who are mostly likely to succeed. Regan is able to push his message even further , by explaining that even the people who display these traits don’t believe in limits: “Nothing ends here: our hopes and our journeys continue”.
In his speech titled “The Space Shuttle Challenger Tragedy: Address”, President Ronald Reagan addressed the United States after a tragedy was publicly broadcasted. Earlier that day, a space shuttle called Challenger exploded during takeoff, killing all seven of the crew members aboard. As a result of the public broadcast, many Americans, including schoolchildren, witness the horrific tragedy. Following the tragedy, Reagan gave a speech with the goal to comfort the nation through the difficult time. In his speech, Reagan offered his condolences and tried to reassure Americans that the space program is still a fruitful venture.
Seven of the pilots given the opportunity are chosen, and they eventually become remarked as renowned heroes. Their success causes the space program to take off and expand. Due to this, military pilots who looked down on the seven now are interested in
An American politician and actor who served as the 40th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989, known as Ronald Reagan delivered an iconic speech, “The Space Shuttle “Challenger” Tragedy Address” which is about the mourning and remembering of the seven astronauts that died in a terrible accident on the ground. Throughout the text, the author emphasizes multiple strategies to persuade Americans, indeed to bring them in to have faith in the NASA Program and solutions to said problems. Reagan focus attention on gaining hope and belief for the audience to take away after hearing about the disaster of the space program. Ronald Reagan constantly changes his tone to better portray the meaning of the event from going from thoughtful of the astronauts to having confidence in the next space shuttle that gets ready to leave the earth grounds.
Reagan takes a moment out of this speech to address the school children of America stating, “[To those] who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle 's takeoff. I know it 's hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It 's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It 's all part of taking a chance and expanding man 's horizons. The future doesn 't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave.
In a time of separation and unrest, the United States needed to be a united front against a common enemy with a common goal. The United States used the technological advances in space exploration and the rivalry with the Soviet Union to unite the citizens when tension was great among them. Space exploration milestones that occurred in the 1960s were important to the sense of pride of United States citizens. The Atlas Program and the Apollo Program were major successes in the eyes of the United States and set them apart from their opponent in the space race, the Soviet Union. Space exploration was very important to the 1960s because amongst the chaos of the revolutionary decade, the government was still able to boost morale and restore people’s
Although Ronald Reagan’s speech about the Challenger explosion was given during a time of great sorrow, the speech was successful for being a way to unite the country as one to deal with the loss as a whole, and to bear the weight of such a horrific tragedy together. With the Challenger disaster being the first one of the space program to have deaths in flight, the United States was completely shocked by the misfortune of the shuttle. Ronald Reagan’s speech on the disaster was a way to have the nation not blame the space program for the deaths of the astronauts, but a way to have the nation face the disaster with strength and push through the event with more courage than before and to continue exploration into space. Ronald Reagan begins his speech by addressing the nation and stating how he is exempting the State of the Union
Former President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, in his address to the nation about the Challenger explosion, distinguishes the terrifying news of the explosion of the space shuttle. Reagan's purpose is to remember the lives lost in this painful accident and to ensure that space program will keep our faith with its future in space. He adopts a sorrowful tone in order to acknowledge all the courage and breakers that those seven astronauts expressed to his nation. Reagan opens his tribute to the Challenger astronauts by recognizing that this accident delayed his State of the Union address and by showing the pain of him and his wife’s grief. He appeal to the emotions of the listeners by expressing that “today is a day for mourning and remembering” (Reagan, 1986), that he and his wife are “pained to the core” (Reagan, 1986), and that we all know that this accident is “truly a national loss” (Reagan, 1986).
“In his life time the great frontier were the oceans” (7). The symbolism expresses the passion Drake had for traveling on the sea. Which expresses the message to the nation that the seven astronauts passion was to seek adventures like the one they were loss on. Reagan’s use of rhetorical tools creates an optimistic thought to the all citizens that the seven astronauts passion and bravery has just started their
He utilizes parallelism in his speech to American citizens to describe who the crew members are. “They, the member of the challenge crew, were pioneers.” President Reagan explains how the seven crew members had the hunger to learn more about space and brave enough for wanting to get there. He mainly resemblance the braver, courage and journeys of the space astronauts to these great explores of the past. President Reagan showed the American citizens that this horrible event does not stop them from learning about space.
Later that night President Ronald Reagan came on air to give the State of the Union address and talk on the tragedy that had just unfolded. Through this speech President Reagan consoles the families of those who lost their lives, the American schoolchildren, and the American public as a whole. He also gives this speech to reassure America of the viability of the NASA program and the light in the future. By the use of rhetorical skill, including analogy, strong emotional appeals, and his position of power, President Reagan manages to convince America that despite the tragedy the benefits of keeping a space exploration program greatly outweigh the losses.
On September 12, 1962, at Rice University in Houston Texas, John F. Kennedy gave a powerful speech to garner support for the funding of the space race for the USA. He stated the importance of putting a man on the moon before the end of the decade in its efforts against the Soviet Union and the expectation was met in 1969 by the astronaut Neil Armstrong. His speech forged a new path that the US was heading and inherently started the revolution of the exploration of outer space. Kennedy’s “Moon Speech” makes use of ethos and Kairos to persuade the people of America to become interested in and invest in the ongoing space race. A very important factor in JFK’s speech was his effective use of rhetoric, notably ethos, which he used to make himself become more believable and authoritative.
On January 28, 1986, President Ronald Reagan responded to the dreadful crash of the space shuttle, Challenger, with words of sorrow about the loss of seven men and women. The situation at hand called for a sincere message from the leader of the country by giving his respect and thank those who died on that unfortunate day. Ronald Reagan made the dreadful event into a speech that motivated the American citizens to keep being brave and exploring whether it is in regard to the NASA space program or just the ambition of achieving the freedom that America stands for. Knowing that the direct audience would be the citizens of the United States and the indirect audience would be other countries like Russia who were competing for the exploration of space, Reagan knew he had to pressure the citizens to not give up and not become scared because this one incident. The speech emphasizes this point through Reagan’s directly mention of “the schoolchildren of America.”
Dukes 1 A 'marie S. Dukes October 11, 2017 English I PAP/A1 Hern Annotated Bibliography Hanbury,Robin,and Piers Bizony. “For and Against: Space Exploration.” Engineering and Technology Magazine. The Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2014. Web.