Rhetorical Analysis: The Challenger

Rhetorical Analysis

In the early spring of 1986, The Challenger was scheduled to launch in the morning from the Kennedy Space Center. The Challenger had seven passengers. One of these passengers was a Christa McAuliffe, a social studies teacher from New Hampshire. She was the first ordinary citizen to be going to space. The social studies teacher had won the opportunity through NASA’s Teachers in space program. The spacecraft was in the air only seventy-three seconds before it exploded and broke apart into the ocean. Everyone was in shock. All the passengers were killed tragically. This put a horrible mark on NASA’s reputation. Some even wanted to close the exploration to space. American was in mourning and everyone felt the blow of the tragedy. However, President Ronald Reagan saw it fit to continue space exploration. He gave an argument and a tribute to America and the families of the lost passengers. His tribute swayed American to see the silver lining in the tragedy and understand why we must continue the journey to explore space.

When Reagan gave this tribute, a nation was in mourning. America had just lost seven brilliant people in a tragic accident. Even though everyone was sullen over the deaths, Reagan saw what was at stake. The talk of the
Space is a mystery, but humanity was getting close to entering and learning from it. Reagan knew that if the space exploration was terminated so much would be lost. He used emotional aspects in his argument to touch the people and convince them to see a new view. He showed how sorrowful he was toward the accident. Reagan connected on a personal level with the people. He mentions many people by name and shares their pain. This makes him seem like everyone else in America. He speaks of courage, bravery, and how the dedicated astronauts died for a worthy cause. He comforts people with his words and shows the good in moving forward and pressing