Apollo 1 Persuasive Speech

On January 27, 1967 disaster struck for NASA, and America. The first Apollo manned aircraft with the set lunar destination caught fire once deployed. Unfortunately the crew of three did not survive the horrific event. Being the first manned aircraft that NASA’s Apollo program deployed it had significant influence on it’s viewers, and on the space agency. The failure of Apollo 1 was NASA’s first attempt at greatness. Their way of dealing with the public was carefully thought through. Through heart wrenching emotions and logistical strategies NASA was able to convince society that the Apollo mission shouldn’t be considered a defeat, but a breakthrough in American history. As it burst into flames, Apollo 1 captured the attention of everyone

At the time of the launch (1960) Lyndon Baines Johnson was president. In a speech directed to the American public Johnson said, “ If I could get one message to you it would be this: the future of our free country and the welfare of the free world depends upon our success in space.(Space Quotes)” Johnsons quote implied that if America was to continue being free and well, the Apollo program would have to continue. Johnson’s quote had a sense of urgency, the emphasis on “free” demonstrates the rhetorical usage of anadiplosis. The repetition of the idea of the wellbeing of America shows that the voyage into space is an essential part of the future, and essential for the welfare of America. In the same note, Johnson also used an antimetabole to convey his message as an important one. Antimetabole is demonstrated by Johnsons reversing the order of “free”, thus implying that if America’s space program is efficient, then America will be prosperous. Most of all, since Johnson held the highest position of office his approval created a major source of credibility. Johnson in a way gave NASA the benefit of ethos, which in turn led to an enormous societal impact. Statistics prove that the Apollo Program gained extreme financial support from the public after the Apollo 1 catastrophe. Their budget after the event was 439.6 million dollars, compared to 38 million dollars granted to the unmanned Mars

They attained the majority of their data through NASA launched satellites and rockets. Which was another purpose of the Apollo missions, to collect data. Consequently, the Apollo Program provided the scientists with measurable attributes such as air temperature and cosmic ray impacts, that would’ve been hard or even impossible to find (NASA). If atmospheric scientists didn’t have access to such information then climate changes wouldn’t have been noticed, or fixed. The Apollo missions not influenced them with important discoveries like climate change, but with many more discoveries. The Apollo program appealed to those scientists in a logical manner, since they supplied the scientists’ research with atmospheric facts, they therefore depended on NASA. This shows how the Apollo Program has influenced society through