Editing Christa McAuliffe (section)

==Early life==
Sharon Christa Corrigan was born on September 2, 1948, in [[Boston]] as the oldest of the five children of accountant Edward Christopher Corrigan (1922–1990), who was of English and Irish descent;<ref name="Corrigan 2000 21">{{Harvnb | Corrigan | 2000 | p=21}}</ref> and Grace Mary Corrigan (née George; 1924–2018), a substitute teacher,<ref name="NASABio">{{Cite web |url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/Biographies/challenger.html |title=The Crew of the Challenger Shuttle Mission in 1986 |access-date=January 9, 2009 |publisher=NASA |date=October 22, 2004 |archive-date=May 27, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080527163412/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/Biographies/challenger.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Edward">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/28/obituaries/edward-c-corrigan-astronaut-s-father-67.html |title= Edward C. Corrigan, Astronaut's Father, 67 |access-date=January 10, 2009 |work=The New York Times |date=January 28, 1990}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb | Corrigan | 2000 |p=156}}</ref> whose father was of Lebanese [[Maronite Christianity in Lebanon|Maronite]] descent.<ref name="Corrigan 2000 21"/> McAuliffe was a great niece of Lebanese-American historian [[Philip Khuri Hitti]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.lebanesemonthly.com/magazines/lebanese_monthly_volume-01_issue-02.pdf |title= 20 Years Later...Remembering Lebanese American Astronaut Christa McAuliffe |magazine=Lebanese Monthly Magazine |date=February 2006 |access-date=January 12, 2009 | page=18 |volume=1 |issue=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304125359/http://www.lebanesemonthly.com/magazines/lebanese_monthly_volume-01_issue-02.pdf |archive-date=March 4, 2009 |url-status=usurped}}</ref> McAuliffe was known by her middle name from an early age, and in later years she signed her name "S. Christa Corrigan", and eventually "S. Christa McAuliffe".<ref>{{Harvnb | Burgess | Corrigan | 2000 | pp=6–7}}</ref>

The year McAuliffe was born, her father was completing his sophomore year at [[Boston College]].<ref name="NASABio"/> Not long after, he took a job as an assistant [[comptroller]] in a Boston [[department store]], and they moved to [[Framingham, Massachusetts]], where McAuliffe attended [[Marian High School (Massachusetts)|Marian High School]], graduating in 1966.<ref name="Corrigan40">{{Harvnb|Corrigan|2000|p=40}}</ref> She went on to earn a bachelor's degree in 1970 from Framingham State College, now [[Framingham State University]]. As a youth, McAuliffe was inspired by [[Project Mercury]] and the [[Project Apollo|Apollo Moon landing program]]. The day after [[John Glenn]] orbited the Earth in ''[[Friendship 7]]'', she told a friend at Marian High, "Do you realize that someday people will be going to the Moon? Maybe even taking a bus, and I want to do that!"<ref>{{Harvnb|Burgess|Corrigan|2000|p=10}}</ref> McAuliffe wrote years later on her [[NASA]] application form: "I watched the [[Space Age]] being born, and I would like to participate."<ref name="NASABio"/><ref>{{Harvnb|Burgess|Corrigan|2000|pp=9–10}}</ref>

In 1970, McAuliffe married her longtime boyfriend whom she had known since high school, [[Steven J. McAuliffe]], a 1970 graduate of the [[Virginia Military Institute]]. The couple moved closer to Washington, D.C., so that he could attend the [[Georgetown University Law Center]].<ref name="NASABio"/><ref name="Corrigan40"/> They had two children, Scott and Caroline, who were nine and six respectively when she died.<ref>{{Harvnb|Corrigan|2000|p=123}}</ref>

[[File:Concord NH High School.jpg|thumb|right|McAuliffe was a teacher at [[Concord High School (New Hampshire)|Concord High School]] in New Hampshire.]]

McAuliffe obtained her first teaching position in 1970, as an American history teacher at Benjamin Foulois Junior High School in [[Morningside, Maryland]].<ref name="Ultimate"/> From 1971 to 1978, she taught history and civics at Thomas Johnson Middle School in [[Lanham, Maryland]]. In addition to teaching, McAuliffe completed a Master of Arts in education supervision and administration from [[Bowie State University]] in [[Maryland]].<ref name="Papers">{{Cite web|url=http://www.framingham.edu/henry-whittemore-library/curriculum-library-archives-and-special-collections/christa-mcauliffe.html |title=Christa McAuliffe 1948–1986 |access-date=January 11, 2009 |publisher=Framingham State College – Henry Whittemore Library |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528041008/http://www.framingham.edu/henry-whittemore-library/curriculum-library-archives-and-special-collections/christa-mcauliffe.html |archive-date=May 28, 2010}}</ref> In 1978, she moved to [[Concord, New Hampshire]], when Steven accepted a job as an assistant to the [[New Hampshire Attorney General]].<ref name="NASABio"/> McAuliffe taught 7th and 8th grade American history and English in Concord, New Hampshire, and ninth grade English in [[Bow, New Hampshire]], before taking a teaching post at [[Concord High School (New Hampshire)|Concord High School]] in 1983.<ref>Application for NASA Teacher in Space Program: Sharon Christa McAuliffe can be found in the Christa Corrigan McAuliffe Special Collections at Whittemore Library at Framingham State University {{cite web|url=http://www.framingham.edu/henry-whittemore-library/archives-and-special-collections/christa-mcauliffe.html |title=Christa Corrigan McAuliffe Papers, 1948-2000|access-date=October 24, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029194829/http://www.framingham.edu/henry-whittemore-library/archives-and-special-collections/christa-mcauliffe.html |archive-date=October 29, 2013 }}</ref>

McAuliffe was a social studies teacher, and taught several courses including American history, law, and economics, in addition to a self-designed course: "The American Woman".<ref>{{Harvnb|Burgess|Corrigan|2000|pp=15–16}}</ref> Taking field trips and bringing in speakers were an important part of her teaching techniques. According to ''[[The New York Times]]'', McAuliffe "emphasized the impact of ordinary people on history, saying they were as important to the historical record as kings, politicians or generals."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0902.html|title=The Shuttle Explosion, The Seven Who Perished in The Explosion of The Challenger |work=The New York Times |date=January 29, 1986|access-date=January 13, 2009}}</ref>