Christa McAuliffe

Hello! My name is Christa McAuliffe. I was born on September 2nd, 1948, in a city called Boston. Even when I was a little girl, I loved learning new things. I was especially curious about history and how people lived long ago. I also loved watching the exciting things happening with space travel, like when the first satellites were launched into the sky. I kept a diary where I wrote about all my dreams. One of my biggest dreams was to become a teacher. I wanted to share my love of learning with students and help them get excited about the world around them.

And guess what? My dream came true! I grew up and became a social studies teacher in a town called Concord, in New Hampshire. Being a teacher was the best job in the world. I didn't want my students to just read from books. I wanted them to experience history. We would take fun field trips and do creative projects that made learning feel like an adventure. My students were like my family, and I loved seeing their eyes light up when they understood something new or had a great idea.

One day, I heard about a very special contest from NASA, the place that sends astronauts into space. They were looking for a teacher to go on a mission! It was called the Teacher in Space Project. I thought, 'Wow! What if I could teach from the biggest classroom of all—outer space?'. I wrote an application explaining how I would share the adventure with students everywhere. There were more than 11,000 teachers who applied! In 1985, I got the most exciting news of my life: I was chosen. I was going to be the very first teacher in space. I was so happy and a little nervous. I started training to become an astronaut and planned lessons I would broadcast from the Space Shuttle Challenger.

My amazing journey to space began on January 28th, 1986. The trip on the Space Shuttle Challenger was very short, and it did not end the way everyone had hoped. I lived to be 37 years old. Even though I never got to teach my lessons from space, my dream of inspiring students didn't end. People remember me as a teacher who was brave enough to reach for the stars. All over the world, there are schools and science centers named after me that encourage kids just like you to be curious, to ask big questions, and to follow your dreams, no matter how high they may seem.