Bill Nelson: “Mr. President, on this occasion, when the Nation is mourning the loss of President Reagan, I wish to bring to the…”

“Mr. President, on this occasion, when the Nation is mourning the loss of President Reagan, I wish to bring to the attention of the Senate a couple of stories which are fresh in my memory about President Reagan. I had the privilege during his two terms as President of serving in the House of Representatives, representing a district from the State of Florida. The first story I wish to share is of a time of great loss to this country, the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The American people could hardly believe it. The entire technological prowess of our country was symbolized by America having a very successful space program. We were the first to the Moon. This new contraption called a space transportation system was reusable, with new technologies that had been developed. America was quite proud. I had the privilege of flying on the 24th flight of the space shuttle, 6 days in orbit, returning on January 18, 1986. Only 10 days later, the crew that we had stayed with in quarantine--we had been one of the most delayed flights in the history of the space program--was the crew of the Challenger.”