Teacher In Space Christa McAuliffe’s Original Lessons Now Available Online at Challenger Center

Alexandria, VA – Challenger Center for Space Science Education is pleased to announce that Teacher in Space Christa McAuliffe’s original lessons are now available for teachers on Challenger Center’s website at www.challenger.org. The lessons feature links to videos of Christa McAuliffe and her back-up Barbara Morgan (NASA’s STS-118 Educator Astronaut) demonstrating activities both on Earth and in zero-g. Each lesson includes step-by-step instructions for teachers on how to use the activities in the classroom with students. By passing the torch of knowledge and education to today’s teachers, these activities continue Christa’s enthusiasm for education by replicating the very lessons she was not able to share from orbit.

More than 20 years has passed since the loss of the Challenger crew on January 28, 1986. Had this mission been completed, Ms. McAullife would have shared these special science lessons to children around the world.

“Christa’s wonderful teaching gift and spirit have been captured on the videos’ lessons, and her remarks and actions in training accomplish most of her lessons plans”, said the project editor Jerry Woodfill of NASA’s Space Educators’ Handbook. Her often quoted remark “I touch the future, I teach” is validated through the distribution of these materials by NASA and Challenger Center, the organization formed to carry on the educational mission of the crew.

Students experiencing the six lost lessons will be the future touched by Christa’s teaching gift. Special thanks to NASA and Jerry Woodfill, editor of Challenger’s Lost Lessons: The Never Done Educational Demonstrations of STS-51L (a project of the Space Educators’ Handbook, OMB/NASA Report #S677).

Challenger Center for Space Science Education was founded in 1986 by the families of the astronauts of the space shuttle Challenger 51-L mission. It is dedicated to the educational spirit of that mission and impacts over 300,000 students and 25,000 teachers each year. Challenger Learning Center programs at 50 centers around the world continue the crew’s mission of engaging teachers and students in science, mathematics, engineering and technology. To locate a Challenger Learning Center near you, visit www.challenger.org.

Challenger Center for Space Science Education
1250 North Pitt Street, Alexandria, VA 22314