Between 1985 and 1986, a flurry of media attention surrounded Christa McAuliffe, America’s first Teacher in Space. Yet before McAuliffe became a familiar face on the national stage, signing autographs and courting viewers on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, she was simply Concord’s Christa: a history teacher, a devoted wife and mother, a cherished member of the local community.
Monitor staff writers accompanied Christa along her journey from Concord to Cape Canaveral, perhaps none more closely than Robert “Bob” Hohler. In the archival deep-dive curated below, you’ll read many of Hohler’s columns detailing Christa’s selection process, intensive training and testing and innermost thoughts on her preparations for the space shuttle Challenger’s launch. You’ll also find, from former Monitor science writer Ralph Jimenez, explainers on the mechanics of space exploration.
We revisit these slivers of our collective past in remembrance of Christa McAuliffe and in reverence of the approaching 40th anniversary of the Challenger tragedy, which claimed her life and those of her six fellow crewmates.
This slideshow is a part of our special project, ‘Christa’s legacy: Concord’s pioneer woman, the world’s teacher,’ which launches in full at the end of the month. Click here to visit our series page and stay up to date with our reporting.
