Christa mcauliffe death

Steven j. mcauliffe
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On August 27, 1984, President Ronald Reagan announced that NASA was launching a Teacher in Space Project. Some 11,000 educators applied for the opportunity to fly on board a space shuttle flight, including 36-year-old Christa McAuliffe, a social studies teacher at Concord High School in New Hampshire.

McAuliffe, who was Arab American of Lebanese descent, saw the opportunity as a way to promote her profession and advocate for teachers. She was thrilled to learn the following year that NASA had picked her to be the first teacher in space.

“It's not often that a teacher is at a loss for words,” McAuliffe said after Vice President George H.W. Bushannounced her selection on July 19, 1985. Explaining she had become close friends with the other finalists in the program, she said, “When that shuttle goes up, there might be one body, but there's gonna be 10 souls that I'm taking with me.”

On January 28, 1986, students in schools across the country gathered by TVs to watch McAuliffe take off in the Challenger space shuttle. The excitement turned to alarm and horror when the shuttle ex

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Christa McAuliffe

McAuliffe's training for space mission STS-51-L began on September 9, 1985, and occupied the remainder of the year. The Challenger shuttle was scheduled to launch on January 22, 1986, but was delayed because of a dust storm in the Sahara Desert. Over the course of the next few days, the launch was delayed two more times. Finally, on January 28, 1986, the Challenger launched. The temperature the day of the launch was a record low; it was the coldest launch that NASA had ever attempted. Seventy-three seconds into the flight, the shuttle suffered a leak in one of the solid rocket boosters that resulted in the explosion of the vehicle. Christa Corrigan McAuliffe along with her six crewmembers died in the crash.

During one of the many interviews throughout her training, Christa McAuliffe explained her mission as thus: "You have to dream. We all have to dream. Dreaming is okay. Imagine me teaching from space, all over the world, touching so many people's lives. That's a teacher's dream! I have a vision of the world as a global village, a world without boundaries. Ima

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Christa McAuliffe Biography

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Christa McAuliffe was born on September 2, 1948, in Boston, Massachusetts. She is best known for being the first high school teacher chosen to join the NASA Teacher in Space Project on July 19, 1985. Christa and the rest of the crew died on January 28, 1986, when her shuttle, the Challenger, exploded shortly after liftoff.

Early Life and Education

Christa was born as Sharon Christa Corrigan. She was the first of five children in the Corrigan family. When she turned five her family moved to Framingham, Massachusetts. At that time the “Space Age” had begun and NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) was busy preparing astronauts to launch into space. Christa studied American history and education in college at Framingham State University. Her life’s passion was to become a high school teacher. In 1970, she graduated and married her high school sweetheart, Steven McAuliffe. Christa was excited and prepared for her new job. She began teaching American history and English to her junior high school students in Maryla