 Sharon Christa
(Corrigan) McAuliffe was born on September 2,
1948. McAuliffe is from Ulster Scot descent. There is a Clan McAuliffe that is Irish. She
received her bachelor of arts degree in 1970 from Framington State University in
Massachusetts, and then received a masters degree in education in 1978 from Bowie State
College in Maryland.On July 19, 1985, it was
announced by then Vice-President George Bush that Christa had been unanimously chosen from
over 11,000 applicants for the Teacher In Space Project. She was to go up in space on the
space shuttle Challenger.
Her goal as the first teacher in space was to "humanize
the Space Age by giving a perspective from a non-Astronaut."
Sharon Christa McAuliffe was tragically killed on January 28,
1986, when the Challenger exploded 78 seconds after take-off. Despite not making
it into space, she will always be remembered as the first. |
