Mc Auliffe, Sharon Christa. (1948-1985). American educator and astronaut, died on the "Challenger" disaster.
She received her bachelor of arts degree from Framingham State College, Massachusetts, in 1970 and a masters in education from Bowie State College, Maryland, in 1978. Christa McAuliffe was selected as the primary candidate for the NASA Teacher in Space Project (TISP) on July 19, 1985, from over 11,000 teacher applicants from the United States. Vice President George Bush announced that Christa was NASA's unanimous choice to be the first teacher in space.
McAuliffe's voyage on the Challenger mission was to include live lessons to school children sent across the U.S. via satellite. Project "Classroom Earth" was to include two lessons by McAuliffe, "the ultimate field trip" and "Where we've been, where we're going and why". Her goal as the first teacher in space was to "humanize the Space age by giving a perspective from a non-astronaut".
McAuliffe began teaching in 1970. She taught American History and English to 7th and 8th graders, as well as economics, law, American history and social studies to high school students in Concord, New Hampshire. She also developed and taught her own new course, "The American Woman."
Photograph Signed. Color, 8 x 8", cropped at the bottom edge, n.d., n.p. An official NASA publicity photograph of the astronaut and "Teacher in Space" Sharon Christa McAuliffe, who perished in the January, 1986 explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger. Christa has signed the photograph at upper right in full, "Christa McAuliffe."
Estimated Value $300-400.
