Christa McAuliffe According to "The New York Times", she "emphasized the impact of ordinary people on history, saying they were as important to the historical record as kings, politicians or generals." In 1984, President Ronald Reagan announced the Teacher in Space Project, and Christa learned about NASA's efforts to find their first civilian, an educator, to fly into space. NASA wanted to find an "ordinary person," a gifted teacher who could communicate with students while in orbit. McAuliffe became one of more than 11,000 applicants. NASA hoped that sending a teacher into space would increase public interest in the Space Shuttle program,
3352 McAuliffe 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 on 6 February 1981, by American astronomer Norman Thomas at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station near Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. Originally, this asteroid was the target of the 1998 Deep Space 1 mission, but that mission was eventually rerouted to 9969 Braille. It was named in memory of Challenger crew member Christa McAuliffe. "McAuliffe" orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.2–2.6 AU once every 2 years and 7