Teacher in Space Project to interested teachers while 11,000 teachers sent completed applications to NASA. Each application included a potential lesson that would be taught from space while on the Space Shuttle. The applications were sorted and then sent to the various State Departments of Education, who were then responsible for narrowing down their state applicants to a final set of two each. These applicants were notified of their selections and were gathered together for further selection processes down to ten finalists. These were then trained for a time, and in 1985 NASA selected Christa McAuliffe to be the first teacher in space, with
Christa Merten in the 1000, 1500 and 3000 meter run. Merten was 1.68 m tall and weighed 54 kg in her time as an active athlete. Until 1964, she belonged to the sports club SC Charlottenburg, then VfL Wolfsburg, then ASV Köln and finally from 1971 onward, Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Christa Merten Christa Merten (née Basche; 14 October 1944, Dobbertin, Germany – 1 July 1986, Marbella, Spain), was a West German athlete and Olympian who competed for West Germany in the 1960s and 70s in the 800, 1500 and 3000 meter runs and in cross country running. On July 31, 1971, she