Word: christa
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Sunday morning, McAuliffe, who had earlier reassured her parents by telephone that she was "rarin' to go," was set once again. Her parents, along with 18 third-graders from Concord, had flown to the cape to watch the lift-off. Christa's son Scott, 9, was in the class. Her daughter Caroline, 6, was also there but had never quite understood what her mother was doing. While McAuliffe had been in training, Caroline had asked several times by phone, "Mom, are you in space...
...again that this America was built on heroism and noble sacrifice. It was built by men and women like our seven star voyagers, who answered a call beyond duty." After paying individual tributes to each member of the crew, the President declared, "Dick, Mike, Judy, El, Ron, Greg and Christa--your families and your country mourn your passing. We bid you goodbye, but we will never forget...
Waiting out this frustrating postponement at the cape, Ed Corrigan, Christa's father, said wryly, "I would have gotten the hacksaw sooner." Commented his wife Grace: "I would have gotten my nail file." One veteran consultant to NASA was less charitable, asking, "Can you imagine a pad leader permitting an s.o.b. to show up for work with a drill with a dead battery...
...Even at that distance, they could feel the power of the blast-off, which elicits an almost instinctive elation. A graceful sculpture arising from an awesome explosion: it was just as it was supposed to look. Among the relieved viewers were relatives of most of Challenger's crew, including Christa's parents and her husband Steven. At Concord High School, students who had repeatedly gathered in the auditorium finally had a chance to blow their party horns and cheer their teacher's loftiest achievement...
Neither did teachers. No one could have foreseen the final six months of her 37 years. Sharon Christa Corrigan McAuliffe was a wife, a mother of two small children and a dedicated high school teacher in Concord, N.H., when NASA announced last July that she had been chosen to join a shuttle crew. She was amazed that her application had brought her the top prize, and she was not the only one. A school official in Concord recalled, "To us, she seemed average. But she turned out to be remarkable. She handled success so beautifully...