A social studies teacher from Concord, New Hampshire was
selected to become NASA’s first civilian astronaut as documentary filmmakers
Renee Sotile and Jo Godges explore the remarkable life of Christa McAullife,
the educator who lost her life when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded on
January 12, 1986. She was one of the seven-crew members killed in the Space
Shuttle Challenger explosion. She was selected from thousands of applicants for
the journey into the stars; McAullife’s personal mission was to make space
exploration exciting for school children everywhere. She received her bachelor’s degree
in education and history from Framingham State College in 1970, and also a
master’s in education supervision and administration from Bowie State
University in 1978. She took a teaching position as a social studies teacher at
Concord High School in New Hampshire in 1983.
In 1985, she was selected from more
than 11,000 applicants to participate in the NASA Teacher in Space Project and
was scheduled to become the first teacher in space. She was a member of the mission, STS-51-L.
She planned to conduct experiments and teach two lessons from Space Shuttle
Challenger. On January 28, 1986, the shuttle broke apart after 73 seconds or 1
minute and 13 seconds after the launch. After her death, schools and
scholarships were named in her honor, and in 2004 she was awarded the
Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
During her early life, she was born
on September 2, 1948, in Boston, Massachusetts. She was the oldest of five
children of her dad the accountant Edward Christopher Corrigan of Irish descent
and Grace Mary Corrigan, a substitute teacher, whose father was of Lebanese
Maronite descent. Christa’s previous name before she changed it to Sharon
Christa McAullife was Sharon Christa Corrigan. The year when she was born, her
father was completing his sophomore year at Boston College. Then, in Boston,
Massachusetts, Christa attended and graduated from Marian High School in 1966.
After high school, she attended Framingham State College in her hometown,
graduating in 1970. A few weeks later after she had graduated, she married her
boyfriend whom she had known since high school, Steven J. McAullife, a 1970
graduate of the Virginia Military Institute. They moved closer to Washington
D.C. so Steven could attend the Georgetown University Law Center. They had two
children together, Scott and Caroline, who were only nine and six, when Christa
died in the accident.
Christa obtained her first teaching
position in 1970. She was an American History teacher at Benjamin Foulois
Junior High School in Morningside, Maryland. From 1971 to 1978, she taught
history and civics at Thomas Johnson Middle School in Lanham, Maryland. In
1978, she moved to Concord, New Hampshire, when Steven a job as an assistant to
the New Hampshire Attorney General. She taught 7th and 8th
grade American History and English in Concord, NH in 9th grade
English in Bow, NH, before taking a teaching position at Concord High School in
1983. She was a social studies teacher and taught many courses including
American History, Law, Economics and in addition to that was her
self-designated course: ”The American Woman”.
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan
announced the Teacher in Space Project, and Christa learned about it having the
first civilian, an educator, to fly in space. On July 1, 1985, she was announcing
one of the ten finalists, and on July 7, she traveled to the Johnson Space
Center for medical examinations before the space flight. On July 19th,
Vice President George Bush announced that she had been selected for the
position. Unfortunately, a year after, January 12, 1986, she died in an
explosion in a Space Shuttle.
My thought on the movie was that
she was a good astronaut and teacher. She was inspirational in a way. I liked
her accomplishments and her job. It would be cool to go up into space. It was a
great movie to watch about a woman who was so accomplished, brave, successful,
and admired.
Apart from her life, dreams, and
goals, I have different dreams and goals to accomplish. I want to major in Law
or Government. I want to either accomplish becoming a lawyer, senator of
Alaska, Mayor, or the President of the United States of America. I have always
had the dream of becoming the President of the United States of America. These
are dreams and goals that I have that are different than Christa McAullife’s.
Resources: Christa McAullife: Reach For The Stars Documentary
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