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Long out of office, Richard Nixon mused one day about that era and the importance of our space achievements. Nixon was President when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon, a legacy of sorts from Kennedy. "Just think," he said in that interview, "how miserable it would have been had we not had the space success when we were in the midst of Vietnam, then Watergate and all that."
Death is always a part of a President's schedule. But there was something in Ronald Reagan's heart--and he had the ability to convey it--that seemed to give special comfort to the bereaved. When Challenger exploded as the country watched, national exhilaration was instantly plunged into despair for those young lives pinched out in the first seconds of their great adventure. Reagan read a wonderful text by speechwriter Peggy Noonan and lifted it into immortality: "The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them..." He may have understood better than most of us that great achievement always takes a toll among those with the courage to make the journey.
There is no other way for this nation.