Christa McAuliffe a result. On January 28, 1986, McAuliffe boarded "Challenger" with the other six crew members of STS-51-L. Just 73 seconds into its flight at an altitude of 48,000 feet, the shuttle broke apart, resulting in the deaths of all seven crew members. According to NASA, it was in part because of the excitement over her presence on the shuttle that the accident had such a significant effect on the nation. Many schoolchildren were viewing the launch live, and media coverage of the accident was extensive. The Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle "Challenger" Accident—also known as the Rogers Commission—was formed
1015 Christa inclination of 9° with respect to the ecliptic. The asteroid was first observed as at the Simeiz Observatory in October 1916. The body's observation arc begins at Heidelberg in February 1924, two days after its official discovery observation. In the Tholen classification, "Christa" is a common C-type asteroid, while in the SMASS classification, it is a Xc-subtype that transitions from the carbonaceous C-type to the X-type asteroids. It has also been characterized as a primitive P-type asteroid by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). In April 2005, a first rotational lightcurve of "Christa" was obtained from photometric observations by French