Christa McAuliffe probable the O-rings had not provided a proper seal. Barbara Radding Morgan, her backup, became a professional astronaut in January 1998, and flew on Space Shuttle mission STS-118, to the International Space Station, on August 8, 2007, aboard "Endeavour", the orbiter that replaced "Challenger". McAuliffe was buried at Blossom Hill Cemetery in her hometown, Concord. She has since been honored at many events, including the Daytona 500 NASCAR race in 1986. The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord and the Christa Corrigan McAuliffe Center for Education and Teaching Excellence at Framingham State University are named in her memory, as are the
Christa McAuliffe TV. To record her thoughts, McAuliffe intended to keep a personal journal like a "woman on the Conestoga wagons pioneering the West." After being chosen to be the first teacher in space, she was a guest on several television programs, including "Good Morning America"; the "CBS Morning News"; the "Today Show"; and "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson", where, when asked about the mission, she stated, "If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat. Just get on." She had an immediate rapport with the media, and the Teacher in Space Project received popular attention as