Editing Christa McAuliffe (section)

==Teacher in Space Project==
[[File:Christa McAuliffe Experiences Weightlessness During KC-135 Flight - GPN-2002-000149.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.9|McAuliffe undergoing pre-flight training experiences [[weightlessness]] during a [[KC-135]] "[[vomit comet]]" flight]]
[[File:Christa McAuliffe eating space food dishes.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.9|McAuliffe (left) and her backup [[Barbara Morgan]] (right) try out [[space food]] in the canteen of the [[Johnson Space Center]], Sep 10, 1985]]

In 1984, President [[Ronald Reagan]] announced the [[Teacher in Space Project]], and McAuliffe learned about NASA's efforts to find their first civilian, an educator, to fly into space.<ref name="Center">{{Cite web|url=http://www.challenger.org/about/history/index.cfm|title=The Challenger Story:Teacher in Space|publisher=Challenger Center for Space Science Education|access-date=January 13, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125080418/http://www.challenger.org/about/history/index.cfm|archive-date=January 25, 2009}}</ref> NASA wanted to find an "ordinary person," a gifted teacher who could communicate with students while in orbit.<ref name="NASABio"/><ref name="Ultimate">{{Cite news|author=Staff writer|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/24/AR2006012401108.html|title=McAuliffe: Teacher on 'Ultimate Field Trip'|newspaper = The Washington Post|date=January 28, 1986|page=A10|access-date=January 13, 2009}}</ref> McAuliffe became one of more than 11,000 applicants.<ref name="Center"/>

{{quote box|align=right|width=25%|quote=I cannot join the space program and restart my life as an astronaut, but this opportunity to connect my abilities as an educator with my interests in history and space is a unique opportunity to fulfill my early fantasies. I will never give up.|source= —Christa McAuliffe, 1985<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Ware |editor-first=Susan |editor2=Stacy Lorraine Braukman |title=Notable American Women|year=2004|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, MA| isbn=0-674-01488-X|page=425}}</ref>}}

NASA hoped that sending a teacher into space would increase public interest in the [[Space Shuttle]] program, and also demonstrate the reliability of space flight at a time when the agency was under continuous pressure to find financial support.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna11062587 |agency=Associated Press |title=On anniversary, some reflect on lessons learned |date=January 28, 2006 |work = NBC News |access-date=March 19, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Vaughan|first=Diane|title=The Challenger launch decision: risky technology, culture, and deviance at NASA|year=1996|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago, IL|isbn=0-226-85176-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/challengerlaunch00dian/page/16 16]|url=https://archive.org/details/challengerlaunch00dian/page/16}}</ref><ref name="RogersCh8">{{cite web |url=https://history.nasa.gov/rogersrep/v1ch8.htm |title=Chapter VIII: Pressures on the System |work=Report of the PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident| access-date=March 19, 2009 |date=June 6, 1986 |publisher=NASA}}</ref> President Reagan said it would also remind Americans of the important role that teachers and education serve in their country.<ref name="firstannouncement">{{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=40300 |title=Remarks at a Ceremony Honoring the 1983–1984 Winners in the Secondary School Recognition Program |access-date=March 19, 2009 |date=August 27, 1984 |publisher=The American Presidency Project}}</ref>

The [[Council of Chief State School Officers]], a non-profit organization of public officials in education, was chosen by NASA to coordinate the selection process.<ref name="STS-51Lpress">{{cite web |url=https://history.nasa.gov/sts51lpresskithighres.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://history.nasa.gov/sts51lpresskithighres.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live |title=SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION STS-51L Press Kit |access-date=March 16, 2009 |date=January 1986 |publisher=NASA|pages=22–25 }}</ref> Out of the initial applicant pool, 114 semi-finalists were nominated by state, territorial, and agency review panels. McAuliffe was one of two teachers nominated by the state of New Hampshire.<ref name="concordmonitor">{{cite web |url=http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060126/REPOSITORY/601260382 |title=An inspired choice for an extraordinary role |access-date=March 16, 2009 |last=Travis |first=Mark |date=January 26, 2006 |work=Concord Monitor |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303224318/http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20060126%2FREPOSITORY%2F601260382 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 }}</ref> The semi-finalists gathered in Washington, D.C., from June 22–27, 1985, for a conference on space education and to meet with the Review Panel that would select the 10 finalists.<ref name="STS-51Lpress"/>

[[File:Challenger flight 51-l crew.jpg|thumb|''[[STS-51-L|Challenger]]'' crew from left to right: (front row) [[Michael J. Smith (astronaut)|Michael J. Smith]], [[Dick Scobee]], [[Ronald McNair]]; (back row) [[Ellison Onizuka]], Christa McAuliffe, [[Gregory Jarvis]], and [[Judith Resnik]]]]
On July 1, 1985, McAuliffe was announced as one of the 10 finalists, and on July 7 she traveled to [[Johnson Space Center]] for a week of thorough medical examinations and briefings about space flight.<ref name="STS-51Lpress"/> The finalists were interviewed by an evaluation committee composed of senior NASA officials, and the committee made recommendations to [[NASA Administrator]] [[James M. Beggs]] for the primary and backup candidates for the Teacher in Space Project. On July 19, 1985, Vice President [[George H. W. Bush]] announced that McAuliffe had been selected for the position. Another teacher, [[Barbara Morgan]], served as her backup.<ref name="selectionannouncement">{{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=38909 |title=Remarks of the Vice President Announcing the Winner of the Teacher in Space Project |access-date=March 16, 2009 |date=July 19, 1985 |publisher=The American Presidency Project}}</ref> According to Mark Travis of the ''[[Concord Monitor]]'', it was McAuliffe's manner that set her apart from the other candidates.<ref name="concordmonitor"/> NASA official Alan Ladwig said "she had an infectious enthusiasm", and NASA psychiatrist Terrence McGuire told ''New Woman'' magazine that "she was the most broad-based, best-balanced person of the 10."<ref name="concordmonitor"/>

Later that year, McAuliffe and Morgan each took a year-long leave of absence from teaching in order to train for a Space Shuttle mission in early 1986.<ref name="NASABio"/><ref name="MorganBio">{{Cite web| url=http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/morgan.html|title=Barbara Radding Morgan – NASA Astronaut biography|access-date=January 9, 2009|publisher=NASA|year=2007}}</ref> NASA paid both their salaries. While not a member of the [[NASA Astronaut Corps]], McAuliffe was to be part of the [[STS-51-L]] crew, and would conduct experiments and teach lessons from space. Her planned duties included basic science experiments in the fields of [[chromatography]], [[hydroponics]], [[magnetism]], and [[Newton's laws]].<ref name="Experiments">{{Cite web |url = http://www.challenger.org/challenger_lessons/christas-lost-lessons/|title = Christa's Lost Lessons|access-date = February 13, 2016|publisher = Space Educators' Handbook – OMB/NASA Report #S677/Challenger Center for Space Science Education}}</ref> She was also planning to conduct two 15-minute classes from space, including a tour of the spacecraft, called "The Ultimate Field Trip", and a lesson about the benefits of space travel, called "Where We've Been, Where We're Going, Why".<ref name="Ultimate"/><ref name="Time1">{{Cite magazine |last=Magnuson|first=Ed|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,143062,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090707020754/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,143062,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 7, 2009|title=They Slipped the Surly Bonds of Earth to Touch|access-date=January 9, 2009 |magazine=Time |date=June 24, 2001}}</ref> The lessons were to be broadcast to millions of schoolchildren via closed-circuit TV. To record her thoughts, McAuliffe intended to keep a personal journal like a "woman on the [[Conestoga wagons]] pioneering the West."<ref name="Telegraph-Herald">{{Cite news|title=Teacher embraced historic chance|agency=United Press International|work = Telegraph Herald|date=January 28, 1986|page=13}}</ref>

After being chosen to be the first teacher in space, McAuliffe was a guest on several television programs, including ''[[Good Morning America]]''; the ''[[CBS Morning News]]''; the ''[[Today (NBC program)|Today Show]]''; and ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson]]'', where, when asked about the mission, she stated, "If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat. Just get on."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Belman|first=Felice|author2=Mike Pride|title=The New Hampshire Century: Concord Monitor Profiles of One Hundred People Who Shaped It|year=2001|publisher=University Press of New England|location=Hanover, NH|isbn=1-58465-087-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/newhampshirecent00feli/page/4 4]|url=https://archive.org/details/newhampshirecent00feli/page/4}}</ref> She had an immediate rapport with the media, and the Teacher in Space Project received popular attention as a result.<ref name="NASABio"/>