McAuliffe received her bachelor's degree in education and history from Framingham State College in and her master's degree in education, supervision and administration [ 3 ] from Bowie State University in On January 28, , the shuttle broke apart 1 minute 13 seconds after launch , killing all onboard.
After her death, several schools were named in her honor, and McAuliffe was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in Christa Corrigan", and eventually "S. Christa McAuliffe". The year McAuliffe was born, her father was completing his sophomore year at Boston College. 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!
In , McAuliffe married her longtime boyfriend whom she had known since high school, Steven J. McAuliffe , a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute. The couple moved closer to Washington, D. 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".
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. 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.
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.
