Christa McAuliffe

Christa McAuliffe (September 2, 1948 – January 28, 1986) was an American teacher from Concord, New Hampshire, and one of seven crew members killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

She received her bachelor's degree in education and history from Framingham State College in 1970, and a Master of Arts from Bowie State University in 1978. She took a teaching post as a social studies teacher at Concord High School in New Hampshire in 1982.

In 1985, McAuliffe was selected from more than 11,000 applicants to participate in the NASA Teacher in Space Project and she was scheduled to become the first teacher in space. As a member of mission STS-51-L, she was planning to conduct experiments and teach two lessons from Space Shuttle Challenger. On January 28, 1986, her spacecraft disintegrated 73 seconds after launch. After her death, schools and scholarships were named in her honor, and in 2004 she was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

Early life

The year McAuliffe was born, her father was completing his year at Boston College. As a youth, she was inspired by Project Mercury and the Apollo moon landing program. The day after John Glenn orbited the Earth in Friendship 7, she told a friend at Marian High: "Do you realize that someday people will be going to the Moon? Maybe even taking a bus, and I want to do that!" She wrote years later on her NASA application form: "I watched the Space Age being born, and I would like to participate."

Career as an educator

in New Hampshire]]

McAuliffe obtained her first teaching position in 1970, as an American history teacher at Benjamin Foulois Junior High School in Morningside, Maryland. An important part of her teaching techniques were field trips or bringing in speakers. According to The New York Times, she "emphasized the impact of ordinary people on history, saying they were as important to the historical record as kings, politicians or generals."

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan announced the Teacher in Space Project, and she learned about NASA's efforts to find the first civilian, an educator, to fly into space. NASA wanted to find an "ordinary person," a gifted teacher who could communicate with students while in orbit. McAuliffe became one out of more than 11,000 applicants, |width=80%|align=center}}

Teacher in Space Project

during a KC-135 "vomit comet" flight]]

NASA hoped that sending a teacher into space would increase public interest in the space shuttle program, and also demonstrate the reliability of space flight at a time when the agency was under continuous pressure to find financial support. President Reagan said it would also remind Americans of the important role that teachers and education serve in their country.

The Council of Chief State School Officers, a non-profit organization of public officials in education, was chosen by NASA to coordinate the selection process. Out of the initial applicant pool, 114 semi-finalists were nominated by state, territorial, and agency review panels. McAuliffe was one of two teachers nominated by the state of New Hampshire. The semi-finalists gathered in Washington, DC from June 22–27, 1985 for a conference on space education and to meet with the National Review Panel that would select the 10 finalists. According to Mark Travis of the Concord Monitor, it was McAuliffe's manner that set her apart from the other candidates. (NASA paid both their salaries.) While not a member of the NASA Astronaut Corps, McAuliffe was to be part of the STS-51-L crew, and would conduct experiments and teach lessons from space. Her planned duties included basic science experiments in the fields of chromatography, hydroponics, magnetism, and Newton's laws. She was also planning to conduct two 15-minute classes from space, including a tour of the spacecraft, called "The Ultimate Field Trip", and a lesson about the benefits of space travel, called "Where We've Been, Where We're Going, Why." The lessons were to be broadcast to millions of schoolchildren via closed-circuit TV.

After being chosen to be the first teacher in space, McAuliffe was a guest on several television programs, including Good Morning America, the CBS Morning News, the Today Show, and the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. She had an immediate rapport with the media, and the Teacher in Space Project received tremendously popular attention as a result. According to NASA, it was in part because of the excitement over McAuliffe's presence on Challenger that the accident had such a significant effect on the nation. Many schoolchildren were viewing the launch live, and media coverage of the accident was extensive.

The Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident, also known as the Rogers Commission, was formed to investigate the disaster. It determined that the accident was due to a failure of rubber O-rings made by Morton Thiokol that provided a pressure seal in the aft field joint of the shuttle's right Solid Rocket Booster. The failure of the O-rings was attributed to a design flaw, as their performance could be too easily compromised by factors including the low temperature on the day of launch. The Commission found that O-ring resiliency was directly related to temperature and due to the low temperature at launch, 36 degrees Fahrenheit or 15 degrees lower than the next coldest previous launch, it was probable the O-rings had not provided a proper seal. She became the first teacher to successfully reach space, 21 years after the Challenger disaster.

Legacy

Scholarships and other events have also been established in her memory. The Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference has been held every year in Nashua, New Hampshire since 1986, and is devoted to the use of technology in all aspects of education. The Nebraska McAuliffe Prize honors a Nebraska teacher each year for courage and excellence in education. Grants in her name, honoring innovative teachers, are provided by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the National Council for the Social Studies.

In 1990, McAuliffe was portrayed by Karen Allen in the TV movie Challenger. The spaceship on the 1996–1997 children's science-fiction series Space Cases, about a group of students lost in space, was called "Christa". In 2006, a documentary film about McAuliffe and Morgan called aired on CNN in the CNN Presents format. The film, produced by Renee Sotile and Mary Jo Godges, commemorated the 20th anniversary of McAuliffe's death. The 75-minute feature version was narrated by Susan Sarandon, and included an original song by Carly Simon.

McAuliffe's parents worked with Framingham State College to establish the McAuliffe Center for Education. serving with the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire in Concord. McAuliffe's son Scott completed graduate studies in marine biology, and her daughter Caroline went on to pursue the same career as her mother: teaching.

Quotes

Notes

References

Further reading

External links

Category:1948 births Category:1986 deaths Category:Accidental deaths in Florida Category:American astronauts Category:American schoolteachers Category:Bowie State University alumni Category:Female astronauts Category:Framingham, Massachusetts Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American people of Lebanese descent Category:American people of Native American descent Category:People from Boston, Massachusetts Category:People from Concord, New Hampshire Category:Space program fatalities