Christa McAuliffe According to "The New York Times", she "emphasized the impact of ordinary people on history, saying they were as important to the historical record as kings, politicians or generals." In 1984, President Ronald Reagan announced the Teacher in Space Project, and Christa learned about NASA's efforts to find their first civilian, an educator, to fly into space. NASA wanted to find an "ordinary person," a gifted teacher who could communicate with students while in orbit. McAuliffe became one of more than 11,000 applicants. NASA hoped that sending a teacher into space would increase public interest in the Space Shuttle program,
Christa Wolf herself then closely watched for nearly 30 years. During the Cold War, Wolf was openly critical of the leadership of the GDR, but she maintained a loyalty to the values of socialism and opposed German reunification. Wolf's breakthrough as a writer came in 1963 with the publication of "Der geteilte Himmel" ("Divided Heaven"). Her subsequent works included "Nachdenken über Christa T." ("The Quest for Christa T.") (1968), "Kindheitsmuster" ("Patterns of Childhood") (1976), "Kein Ort. Nirgends" (1979), "Kassandra" ("Cassandra") (1983), "Störfall" ("Accident") (1987), "Medea" (1996), "Auf dem Weg nach Tabou" ("On the Way to Taboo") (1994), and "Stadt der Engel oder