Ronald Reagan’s remarks on the Challenger Shuttle explosion, January 28, 1986
I was in Kindergarden and I don’t remember seeing it live, so I can only imagine how jarring it must have been for the millions of school children watching.
Among the applicants was a high school social studies teacher from Concord, New Hampshire. After hearing about the Teacher in Space Project while attending a social studies conference in Washington, D.C., Christa McAuliffe submitted an application on the last day they were being accepted.
“Christa discussed it with her husband Steve,” recalls Grace Corrigan, Christa’s mother. “He said, ‘Go for it, Christa. Sounds like it’s tailor made for you.’” In her application essay, she wrote, “I cannot join the space program and restart my life as an astronaut, but this opportunity to connect my abilities as an educator with my interests in history and space is a unique opportunity to fulfill my early fantasies. I watched the space program being born, and I would like to participate.”
More from the Challenger Center.
Politics is the 2nd-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the 1st.
Ronald Reagan
(via @WestWingReport)
