Christa McAuliffe

Sharon Christa McAuliffe was a social studies teacher from Concord, New Hampshire, selected from more than 11,000 applicants to become the first participant in NASA's Teacher in Space Project. She planned to teach lessons from orbit that would be broadcast to students across the country. On January 28, 1986, just 73 seconds after Challenger's launch, a failed O-ring seal caused the spacecraft to break apart, killing McAuliffe and all six of her crewmates. Her death, in front of a national television audience that included many of her own students, made her one of the most widely remembered figures in the history of the space program.