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,
Ellison Onizuka that took off from Kennedy Space Center at 11:38:00 EST (16:38:00 UTC) on January 28, 1986. The other "Challenger" crew members were commander Dick Scobee, pilot Michael J. Smith, mission specialists Ronald McNair, Judith Resnik, and payload specialists Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe. It was destroyed when a flame jet leaking from a solid rocket booster ruptured the liquid hydrogen fuel tank 73 seconds after launch. All seven crew members were killed. Following the "Challenger" disaster, examination of the recovered vehicle cockpit revealed that three of the crew members Personal Egress Air Packs were activated: those of Onizuka, mission specialist