Commemoration Held for Challenger Space Shuttle Explosion 30th Anniversary

McAuliffe was a high school social studies teacher from New Hampshire who was selected to join the space mission by the Teacher in Space Program, which was created by President Ronald Reagan to fly the first civilian educator into space. “So I put each of them on a puzzle piece and when it came to the images, I found pictures where they looked the happiest”.

McAuliffe said he’s pleased that “Christa’s goals have been largely accomplished in that she has inspired generations of classroom teachers and students”.

“Dick said something could go wrong”, said Jim Scobee, younger brother of the shuttle commander, Dick Scobee. Created two years after the Challenger explosion, it was the first of now more than 40 Challenger Learning Centers across the country.

All three of the space agency’s major spacecraft disasters – the Apollo 1 fire and the losses of the Challenger and Columbia Space Shuttles – occurred around this time at different points in history. And that was the dream Christa McAuliffe made her reality; a role model to these students lost too soon.

“I was the Johnson Space Center, with hundred and hundreds of other NASA employees watching the launch and it was just unbelievable”, said Dr. Chuck Wood. All seven crew members were killed as the Challenger disintigrated over the Atlantic Ocean. “Our thoughts and memories of Christa will always be fresh and comforting”. The McAuliffes normally do not take part in these NASA memorials, so Scott’s presence was especially noteworthy. The Challenger Space Shuttle exploded just after liftoff.

“Ultimately, they realized that while there was a technical failure that caused the explosion, it wouldn’t have happened if they weren’t pushing so hard and so NASA’s entire culture had to change”. “She proves to me and to the kids how ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things”, said Phillip Salcedo, an eight-grade academic readiness coach at the school. “That’s why they’ve lasted”.

Morgan recalled how Dick Scobee was “a deep and poetic thinker”, and how pilot Michael Smith let her “push the stick” during a training jet flight.