3352 McAuliffe planet was named in memory of Christa McAuliffe (1948–1986), teacher, civilian astronaut and one of the seven crew members who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on 28 January 1986. The minor planets , , , , , and were named for the other crew members of the ill-fated STS-51-L mission. The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 26 March 1986 (). 3352 McAuliffe 3352 McAuliffe (), provisional designation , is a rare-type asteroid and suspected binary system, classified as near-Earth object of the Amor group, approximately 2 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered
Christa Vahlensieck 1973 to 1989, she won 21 marathons, among them the 1977 Berlin Marathon, five times at the Košice Peace Marathon (1981, 1984, 1986 - 1988) and the 1989 Vienna Marathon. In 1988 Vahlensieck run in the special event 'Friendship Run Wuppertal-Košice" a course over 1765 km, trespassing the Iron curtain: "an awesome experience", as she remembers. She won 11 West German national titles: Christa Vahlensieck Christa Vahlensieck (née Kofferschläger; born 27 May 1949) is a German former long distance runner and pioneer in the marathon for women. During her running career, from 1973-1989, she simultaneously achieved a world record in