Christa McAuliffe

Christa McAuliffe ( born September 2, 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts as Sharon Christa Corrigan, † January 28, 1986 in Cape Canaveral, Florida) was an American teacher, who participated as a payload specialist on Space Shuttle flight STS -51 -L and thereby lost his life.

Life

McAuliffe was the eldest child of Edward and Grace Corrigan. She studied History at Framingham State College in Framingham (Massachusetts ) in 1970 and received a bachelor's degree. In the same year she married her childhood friend Steven McAuliffe and moved to Washington, DC with him., You got a son in 1976 and 1979, a daughter. In Maryland, she worked from 1970 as a teacher: at least one year as an assistant at the Benjamine Foulois Junior High School in Morningside, then at the Thomas Johnson Junior High School in Lanham American History and English.

1978 acquired McAuliffe from Bowie State College a master's in education. The family moved to Concord in New Hampshire, where McAuliffe taught at the high school history. She was fascinated by the American pioneers, and led to her school one a course on the history of U.S. women.

She fought against the poor state of public education in the United States and was president of the teachers union in New Hampshire. When she learned from the NASA Teacher - in-Space program, she applied. In her application she wrote: "As a woman, I was always envious of men who could participate in the space program. I found that women were actually excluded from one of the most exciting career fields that are out there. This opportunity to connect my abilities as an educator with my interests in history and space is a unique opportunity from carrying my previous dreams. I was at the birth of the space age there, and I would like to get involved. "They hoped to arouse through their participation, the public interest in the situation in the U.S. educational system.

On July 19, 1985 McAuliffe ( inn ) en as part of the Teacher - in-Space program has been selected ("teacher in space" ) as a member of the shuttle crew of approximately 11,000 candidate. Her official title was Payload Specialist ( Payload Specialist). For the flight was planned that they should introduce television to hold two half-hour lessons lessons from space: " The ultimate trip " and "why we Americans explore space ."

Although McAuliffe never reached orbit, it is regarded by many as the first teacher in space. In her memory in 1981 discovered asteroid ( 3352 ) McAuliffe was named as a moon crater. Also in the space -adventure game series Wing Commander McAuliffe was honored by a space sector got its name. Your spare wife Barbara Morgan was professional astronaut and flew with Space Shuttle mission STS -118 in August 2007 to the International Space Station.

Private

McAuliffe was married to a lawyer. With her husband Steve she had a son and a daughter. The mother Grace Corrigan, born George originates from the paternal side of Maronite Christian immigrants from Lebanon. The historian and orientalist Philip Hitti is a great-uncle of McAuliffe.

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