Christa McAuliffe, Challenger astronaut, born 1948

Christa McAuliffe, born September 2, 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts, was the first teacher to be chosen to go into space.  She was selected to participate in the NASA Teacher in Space Project.

She was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-51-L) January 28, 1986.  Unfortunately, the shuttle exploded just seconds after launch, killing everyone on board.

Challenger (STS-51-L) explodes 73 seconds after launch 1986

STS-51-L crew 

Back row (L-R): Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik. 

Front row (L-R): Michael J. Smith, Francis "Dick" Scobee, Ronald McNair.

STS-51-L Mission patch

Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-51-L), launched January 28, 1986, exploded 73 seconds after launch.  The cause of the disaster was determined to have been a failure of an O-ring seal on the starboard Solid Rocket Booster.  The disaster grounded the space shuttle program for 32 months.  Its crew consisted of Commander Francis Scobee, Pilot Michael Smith, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnick, Ronald McNair, Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe.  All crew perished in the disaster.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Barbara Morgan!

Barbara Morgan, born November 28, 1951 in Fresno, California, went into space aboard Endeavour (STS-118) in August 2007.  She had trained as a backup to Christa McAuliffe as NASA's Teacher In Space.  She was listed as mission specialist for the mission to the International Space Station.

While in space, she participated in an education event with students at the Challenger Center for Space Education in Alexandria, Virginia (I used to live there!).  A few days later, she talked to students at a school in L Ronge, Saskatchewan.