Christa
McAuliffe
1948-1986
teacher in space
Sharon Christa Corrigan McAuliffe graduated from Framingham State College in 1970 with degrees in
education and history and completed a master’s at Bowie State University in 1978. In 1982, she began teaching
in Concord, NH. In 1985, Christa McAuliffe was selected out of 11,000 applicants to be the first Teacher in Space.
Her mission aboard the space shuttle Challenger was to perform two fifteen minute classes from space and
conduct basic scientific experiments, all of which would be broadcast to millions of schoolchildren. But on the
morning of January 28th at 9:27 AM, the temperature was the coldest permitted for a launch: 31° Fahrenheit,
and just seventy-three seconds after lift-off, Challenger broke apart, killing all seven astronauts on board.
The Christa McAuliffe Center was established on the Framingham State campus as a resource to aid,
strengthen and support educators and education. The FSU Archives & Special Collections is home to the
Christa Corrigan McAuliffe archival collection, donated by Grace Corrigan, Christa’s mother and an FSU
alumna. McAuliffe is also the namesake of the McAuliffe branch of the Framingham public library system.
The town of Concord, NH, where she taught until her death, established the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery
Center, a plane