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Rachel Cleaver from Nashville, Tennessee, writes: Christa McAuliffe encompassed all of the values and ideals that I hope to someday possess and bring into my classroom. As an education major, I hope to touch the lives of my students the way Christa touched the lives of hers. I have always had a fascination with space and space travel, but my first love is teaching. Because of Christa's example, I now know that I can accomplish both of these dreams. My goal is to become the first teacher on a permanent space colony in outer space. I know this sounds far fetched, but my hero, Christa McAuliffe, taught me to dare to dream. She also taught me that one of the greatest professions in the world is teaching. I live by her words, "I touch the future...I teach." I only hope that I can live up to them.
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"I touch the future...I teach." Christa McAuliffe |
TEACHER HERO:
CHRISTA MCAULIFFE
by Susannah Abbey
 Sharon Christa McAuliffe was the first teacher to fly in space. She was selected from
more than 11,000 applicants from the education profession for entrance
into the astronaut ranks. McAuliffe was born September 2, 1948, the
oldest child of Edward and Grace Corrigan. Her father was, at that time,
completing his sophomore year at Boston College. Not long thereafter, he
took a job as an assistant comptroller in a Boston department store, and the
family moved to the Boston suburb of Framingham. As a young girl, Christa was very excited about the Apollo moon landing program and, years later, wrote on
her astronaut application form that "I watched the Space Age being born and
I would like to participate."
Today, there are elementary schools named after her in many states, including Florida, Colorado and California.
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McAuliffe attended Framingham State College in her hometown, graduating in
1970. A few weeks later she married her longtime boyfriend, Steven
McAuliffe and they moved to the Washington, DC, metropolitan area so Steven
could attend Georgetown Law School. She took a job teaching in the secondary
schools, specializing in American history and social studies. They stayed in
the Washington area for the next eight years while she taught and completed an
M.A. from Bowie State University in Maryland. They moved to Concord, New
Hampshire, in 1978 when Steven accepted a job as an assistant to the State
Attorney General. Christa took a teaching post at Concord High School in
1982 and, in 1984, learned about NASA's efforts to locate an educator to fly
on the Shuttle. The intent was to find a gifted teacher who could
communicate with students from space.
NASA selected McAuliffe for this position in the summer of 1984. In the
fall she took a year-long leave of absence from teaching, during which time
NASA would pay her salary, and trained for an early 1986 Shuttle mission.
McAuliffe had stated that her goal as the first teacher in space was to "humanize the Space Age by
giving a perspective from a non-Astronaut." She had an immediate rapport with the media, and the teacher in space
program received tremendous popular attention as a result. It is in part
because of the excitement over McAuliffe's presence on the Challenger that
the fatal accident had such a significant impact on the nation. Though she never got to report from space, Christa McAuliffe did a lot to excite a new generation of children to dream about being a part of our future space program.
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Written by
Susannah Abbey
Photos courtesy of NASA Images created by NASA |
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The NASA Web site The Christa McAuliffe Planetarium The Christa McAuliffe Center at Framingham State College "The Christa McAuliffe Center was established on the campus of Framingham State College to continue the educational mission which was the life work of FSC's most notable graduate." |
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The above text is from the official NASA biography of Sharon Christa McAuliffe. |
RECOMMENDED
READING | |
 Christa McAuliffe (Gateway Biography) by Corinne J. Naden, Rose Blue |
 I Touch the Future: The Story of Christa McAuliffe by Robert Hohler |
 Teacher in Space: Christa McAuliffe and the Challenger Legacy by Colin Burgess, Grace George Corrigan |
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| Wendy Milette is a visionary filmmaker and educator. |
Last changed on:10/12/2004 3:01:23 PM
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