The 25th Anniversary of the Challenger Explosion: Remembering Christa McAuliffe in the Classroom
Teachers Honor the Legacy of Christa McAuliffe
I was 15 years old in 1986, sitting in third period watching the launch on television. Our class was excited to see history in the making, a space shuttle with a classroom teacher on board for the first time.
It was especially meaningful to the students at Altavista High School in Virginia because our very own science teacher, Mrs. Carter, had been one of the more than 11,000 teachers that applied to go on board the space shuttle Challenger.
Mrs. Carter had shared with us her great hopes as well as the tedious application process with dozens of pages of questionnaires and forms. Ultimately, she was not chosen and it had been announced that the lucky teacher was McAuliffe of Concord, N.H.
When the Challenger exploded in flight a mere 73 seconds after launch, any disappoint we held that our own teacher wasn't aboard vanished. The classrooms were completely silent until finally our principal came over the intercom. He announced a moment of silence was ironic because the students had been unable to speak as they processed what they had just witnessed on lived television.
Fast forward 12 years later, and I joined the honored ranks of the teaching profession. Live broadcast were sometimes part of classroom education including presidential Inaugurations and even the impeachment hearings of 1998.
To mark the 25th anniversary of the Challenger explosion, teachers in New Hampshire will be honoring Christa McAuliffe at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center at a reception for educators and their families where a documentary of McAuliffe's life and legacy will be shown. There will be a tribute open to the public following at the center's planetarium.
Remembering Christa McAuliffe in the classroom:
Teachers don't have to be near an organized tribute service to honor the legacy of Christa McAuliffe. There are many ways to remember and connect history for today's students.
Where were you when the space shuttle Challenger exploded?
Sandra Wilson Farmer was a mother of two and a college student on Jan. 28, 1986.
"I remember exactly where I was," says Sandra. "I was sitting in my car in the parking lot of Lynchburg College listening to it on the radio when it happened."
Twenty-five years ago understandably seems like more than a life-time ago for young students. Having students interview people that they know to find out where they were when the Challenger disaster happened and their reactions can help students connect events and people that seem out of reach via people they can sit face to face with today.
Books and Online Resources on Christa McAuliffe and the space shuttle Challenger
There are also a variety of books and online resources that can help build interest and understanding related to teacher Christa McAuliffe and the space shuttle Challenger explosion.
The NASA History Program Office web page offers many helpful links that teachers can utilize. Of note are A Sequence of Major Events of the Challenger Accident, Biographies of the Challenger Crew and Ronald Reagan's Address to the Nation.
There are also many helpful books that enlighten students about Christa McAuliffe and to mark the 25th anniversary of the Challenger explosion including:
A Journal for Christa: A Teacher in Space written by Christa McAuliffe's mother, Grace George Corrigan.
Teacher in Space: Christa McAuliffe and the Challenger by Colin Burgess
Christa McAuliffe: A Space Biography by Laura S. Jeffrey
Teachers can also honor Christa McAuliffe and the six others aboard the Challenger with a moment of silence on Friday, Jan. 28, at 11:39 a.m.
Sources:
Personal experience as a student and teacher
Telephone interview with Sandra Farmer, January 23, 2011
http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/wireStory?id=12665673
http://history.nasa.gov/sts51l.html
http://www.amazon.com/Journal-Christa-McAuliffe-Teacher-Space
Published by Angela W. La Fon - Featured Contributor in Lifestyle
As a teacher and a writer Angela enjoys researching, organizing and presenting information in an entertaining way. View profile
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- Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster: A Teacher Remembers
- Anniversary of Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster - January 28, 1986
- A Lesson in Bravery and Space: Remembering Christa McAuliffe
- 'A History Teacher Making History': Remembering Christa McAuliffe
- Remembering Christa McAuliffe and the Challenger Explosion: 25 Years Later
- The Day the Challenger Fell from the Sky
- The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster 22 Years Later
- Our own Altavista High School teacher, Mrs. Carter, had applied to be on board the Challenger.
- When did the Challenger disaster happen?
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I remember watching men walk on the moon. Then came a time where shooting folks into space became too common to care about. Then came the shuttle and space was again a big deal. By the time of the Challenger, we had again grown blase about the space program. The Challenger was a wake up call...travelling into space is more commonplace, but it remains dangerous.
I remember being in school and hearing the announcements. Wonderful article!
Who doesn't remember where they were when this happened...a sad anniversary.
Such a sad day, the memory is still fresh of our great loss...
Christa will always be remembered as a pioneer - a teacher with a dream to reach new heights. I watched in horror when the shuttle exploded and all of America came to a screeching halt. Sadly. cheers :)
We were living overseas (stationed with the Air Force in the UK) when the Challenger disaster happened. I remember it so very well. It's hard to believe that 25 years have gone by. Since then, another space shuttle and its crew have been lost in a disastrous accident. Thanks for an excellent article!
remember that; good job