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 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