Proclamation 5434—Death of American Astronauts on Board Space Shuttle Challenger

As a mark of respect to the memory of Francis R. Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Ellison S. Onizuka, Ronald E. McNair, Judith A. Resnik, Gregory B. Jarvis, and Sharon Christa McAuliffe who gave their lives during the mission of the Space Shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986, I hereby order, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States of America, that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and Possessions through Monday, February 3, 1986. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and tenth.

RONALD REAGAN