The Challenger Disaster

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

In August 1984, President Ronald Reagan launched a program to raise public interest in NASA's space program.

He offered one American school teacher a ride on the space shuttle. Of the 11,000 applicants, Christa McAuliffe, a social studies teacher from New Hampshire, was chosen.

McAuliffe was amazed and thrilled to be chosen. She trained with astronauts for a year to prepare for the space flight. She would be tasked with performing experiments and teaching science lessons from space.

Other members of the crew were commander Dick Scobee, pilot Michael Smith, mission specialists Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, and engineer Gregory Jarvis.

McAuliffe received the most attention; she had an engaging personality and infectious enthusiasm. The news media and the American public loved her and were eager to see her succeed as the country's first citizen-astronaut.

So, when launch day came, many Americans tuned in to watch. Teachers around the country set up TVs in their classrooms so students could participate in this historic event.

But what they saw that day turned out to be one of the worst disasters of the American space program.

Watch a portion of the news broadcast from that infamous day, 28 January 1986.

• What happened to the Challenger?

Go to the Got It? section to solve that mystery.