Christa McAuliffe Vice President George H. W. Bush announced that she had been selected for the position. Another teacher, Barbara Morgan, served as her backup. According to Mark Travis of the "Concord Monitor", it was her manner that set her apart from the other candidates. NASA official Alan Ladwig said "she had an infectious enthusiasm", and NASA psychiatrist Terrence McGuire told "New Woman" magazine that "she was the most broad-based, best-balanced person of the 10." Later that year, she and Morgan each took a year-long leave of absence from teaching in order to train for a space shuttle mission in early 1986.
Christa Harmotto Christa Harmotto Christa Deanne Harmotto (born October 12, 1986) is an American indoor volleyball player, a member of the United States women's national volleyball team and Turkey club Fenerbahce Grundig, a participant of the Olympic Games (2012, 2016), bronze medalist of the 2016 Olympic Games, 2015 World Cup, silver medalist of the 2012 Olympic Games, and a gold medalist of the 2014 World Championship. She played college volleyball at Pennsylvania State University team from 2005–2008. At Penn State, she had a .486 hitting percentage on the year, which led the nation. She was named the Big Ten Player of the