Teacher in Space: Christa McAuliffe and the Challenger Legacy - Paperback

by Colin Burgess (Author), Grace George Corrigan (Foreword by)

This newly revised edition of Teacher in Space tells the story of how McAuliffe graduated from her role as a much-loved high school teacher to occupying a seat on the veteran orbiter's tenth and last flight into space.

On January 28, 1986, NASA space shuttle orbiter Challenger lifted off into the clear blue skies over Florida on mission STS-51L, carrying a crew of seven, including teacher Christa McAuliffe. Just seventy-three seconds into the launch, a massive explosion tore Challenger apart.

McAuliffe's dream was to carry out science projects while in orbit around the earth that were to be telecast live to school students across the United States. Her dream came to a sudden and tragic end that terrible day. Nevertheless, that ambition to educate from space remained an inspiration to many and, in her name and those of the Challenger crew, manifested itself in the establishment of hundreds of youth education programs and institutes of learning across America and around the world.

Teacher in Space is a remarkable story of renewed faith, cooperation, and hope for the future and of a dedicated and much-loved teacher who came to symbolize the best of human achievement.

Author Biography

Colin Burgess is the author or editor of several books on spaceflight, including Shattered Dreams: The Lost and Canceled Space Missions (Nebraska, 2019) and Fallen Astronauts: Heroes Who Died Reaching for the Moon, Revised Edition (Nebraska, 2016). Grace George Corrigan (1924-2018) was an education advocate and the mother of Christa McAuliffe. She is the author of A Journal for Christa: Christa McAuliffe, Teacher in Space (Nebraska, 2000).