The Christa McAuliffe Prize The Christa McAuliffe Prize The Nebraska Christa McAuliffe Prize For Courage and Excellence in Education is an award given annually to recognize a teacher in Nebraska for showing courage in education. Founded in 1987 this award was founded in memorial to Christa McAuliffe, the teacher/astronaut who lost her life in the Challenger space shuttle accident in January, 1986. This fund provides a way to recognize these teachers, and at the same time honor the memory of Ms. McAuliffe's courage. Among the recipients of the Mcauliffe Prize over the past 20 years have been teachers who exemplified courage in many ways,
Steven J. McAuliffe by the United States Senate on October 8, 1992, and received commission on October 10, 1992. He served as Chief Judge from 2004 to 2011. He assumed senior status on April 1, 2013. McAuliffe continues to serve as a founding director for the Challenger Center for Space Science Education. He has two children, Scott and Caroline, with his first wife, Christa; they were 9 and 6, respectively, when she died in 1986. In early 1992, he married Kathleen E. Thomas, a reading teacher for the Concord School District, and mother of two children. Steven J. McAuliffe Steven James McAuliffe (born