Christa McAuliffe

Sharon Christa McAuliffe (née Corrigan; September 2, 1948 – January 28, 1986) was an American teacher and astronaut from Concord, New Hampshire, who died on the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L, where she was serving as a payload specialist.

McAuliffe received her bachelor's degree in education and history from Framingham State College in 1970 and her master's degree in education, supervision and administration from Bowie State University in 1978. McAuliffe took a teaching position as a social studies teacher at Concord High School in New Hampshire in 1983.

In 1985, McAuliffe was selected from more than 11,000 applicants to NASA's Teacher in Space Project and was scheduled to become the first teacher to fly in space. As a member of mission STS-51-L, she was planning to conduct experiments and teach two lessons from Challenger. On January 28, 1986, the shuttle broke apart 73 seconds after launch, killing all onboard. After McAuliffe's death, several schools were named in her honor, and McAuliffe was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 2004. In 2024, a statue of McAuliffe was installed on the grounds of the New Hampshire State Capitol.