Christa McAuliffe Vice President George H. W. Bush announced that she had been selected for the position. Another teacher, Barbara Morgan, served as her backup. According to Mark Travis of the "Concord Monitor", it was her manner that set her apart from the other candidates. NASA official Alan Ladwig said "she had an infectious enthusiasm", and NASA psychiatrist Terrence McGuire told "New Woman" magazine that "she was the most broad-based, best-balanced person of the 10." Later that year, she and Morgan each took a year-long leave of absence from teaching in order to train for a space shuttle mission in early 1986.
Christa Lehmann couple moved to Lehmann's parents' house in Worms. They earned their living with a tiling business, but also through the black market trade. However, the currency reform put an end to this, a fact with which Christa could hardly arrange, resulting in disputes and brawls with her alcoholic husband, as well as violent clashes with her in-laws. Christa Lehmann entered into short-lived relationships with American occupation soldiers and other men. Karl Franz Lehmann died unexpectedly on September 27, 1952 within a half hour of violent convulsions. The doctor determined the cause of death as peptic ulcer disease, which seemed quite