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 McAuliffe in education. Grants in her name, honoring innovative teachers, are provided by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the National Council for the Social Studies. In 1990, she was portrayed by Karen Allen in the TV movie "Challenger". The spaceship on the 1996–1997 children's science-fiction series "Space Cases", about a group of students lost in space, was called "Christa". In 2006, a documentary film about her and Morgan called "Christa McAuliffe: Reach for the Stars" aired on CNN in the "CNN Presents" format. The film, produced by Renee Sotile and Mary Jo Godges, commemorated the 20th anniversary