Despite protests from many groups, NASA placed all educational activities associated with the ill-fated teacher-in-space project on hold after the Challenger explosion.
February 12, 1986 - Education Week
Americans of all ages responded to the space-shuttle tragedy by joining in efforts to memorialize the seven lost astronauts and to keep alive their pioneering spirit.
February 12, 1986 - Education Week
Sharon Christa McAuliffe, who was to be the first teacher and the first “ordinary person” in space, died with six other crew members of the shuttle Challenger when it exploded 10 miles above the Florida coast.
February 5, 1986 - Education Week
Education Week reporter Blake Rodman's first-hand account of the Challenger explosion.
February 5, 1986 - Education Week
Albert Shanker, president of the American Federation of Teachers, called Ms. McAuliffe a "symbol of hope and optimism for teachers and students around the nation."
February 5, 1986 - Education Week
Applicants for the "Teacher in Space" program were asked to answer several essay questions. Christa McAuliffe’s responses follow.
February 5, 1986 - Education Week
Eight finalists took a year off from teaching to work for NASA in promoting links between education and space exploration.
February 5, 1986 - Education Week
Long before last week's ill-fated launch, the project had succeeded in capturing the imagination of tens of thousands of teachers and their students.
February 5, 1986 - Education Week
Only hours after last week’s shuttle explosion, President Reagan said in a nationally televised address that the country would continue to send civilians—including teachers—into space.
February 5, 1986 - Education Week
It was the classroom lesson no one had anticipated.
February 5, 1986 - Education Week
Experts on children’s mental health last week urged adults to encourage students to talk about the space-shuttle deaths and to be receptive listeners.
February 5, 1986 - Education Week
Sharon Christa Corrigan was born in Boston on Sept. 2, 1948, the daughter of Grace and Edward G. Corrigan. She grew up in Framingham, Mass., a Boston suburb.
February 5, 1986 - Education Week
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is preparing a nationwide television broadcast to schools next week as part of an effort to salvage its imperiled teacher-in-space project.
February 5, 1986 - Education Week
Across the country, teachers, students, school administrators, and others tried—in public and private ways—to come to grips with the magnitude of the shuttle disaster.
February 5, 1986 - Education Week
Residents in this snow-covered New England town united last week in churches, homes, and bars, trying to understand a public—yet very personal—tragedy.
February 5, 1986 - Education Week
Observers groaned as NASA announced that, once again, the countdown for the space shuttle Challenger’s historic mission would be delayed.
January 29, 1986 - Education Week
Sharon Christa McAuliffe, the Concord, N.H., high-school teacher slated to orbit the earth beginning Jan. 22, will teach two televised lessons from space—both beamed live by satellite to cable and public-television channels.
December 11, 1985 - Education Week
The Council of Chief State School Officers, the group chosen to coordinate the selection of the teacher who will fly on a space-shuttle mission, named the 114 candidates who will be considered for the journey.
May 22, 1985 - Education Week