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.
Christa McAuliffeJust as the pioneer travelers of the Conestoga wagon days kept personal journals, I, as a pioneer space traveler, would do the same.
Christa McAuliffeNASA was going to pick a public school teacher to go into space, observe and make a journal about the space flight, and I am a teacher who always dreamed of going up into space.
Christa McAuliffeI can remember in early elementary school when the Russians launched the first satellite. There was still so much unknown about space. People thought Mars was probably populated.
Christa McAuliffeIt's not the Olympics. It's Concord, New Hampshire, and a homecoming should reflect the community I'm part of.
Christa McAuliffeIt was hard telling those kids...that I wasn't going to be there this year. And I knew I was going to miss them. I won't have an opportunity to see them again, unless they stop by the house. Now during the summer, I got lots of notes; kids would stop by the house. I'd be pulling weeds or something and they would come up and give me a hug and say, 'Oh, I can't believe it, this is so wonderful!' and just get very excited about it. It was hard not being in school. I would have loved to have gone back to school.
Christa McAuliffeSpace is for everybody. It's not just for a few people in science or math, or for a select group of astronauts. That's our new frontier out there, and it's everybody's business to know about space.
Christa McAuliffeIf anything happened, I think my husband would have to deal with that as the time came.
Christa McAuliffeSometimes when things get kind of frantic, it helps to call my husband Steve, because I think he's got a real good sense of where everything's gonna be in a few years.
Christa McAuliffeThe president felt that it was important to send an ordinary citizen to experience the excitement of space travel as a representative for all Americans.
Christa McAuliffeThe Twilight Zone' wasn't around with the kids. They think going up in space is neat. Within their lifetime, there will be paying passengers on the shuttle.
Christa McAuliffeI told them how excited I would be to go into space and how thrilled I was when Alan Shepard made his historic flight, and when John Kennedy announced on the news that the men had landed safely on the moon, and how jealous I was of those men.
Christa McAuliffeIf I can get some student interested in science, if I can show members of the general public what's going on up there in the space program, then my job's been done.
Christa McAuliffeWhen I'm 60, maybe, I'll look at my pile of papers and wonder, What really happened that year?
Christa McAuliffeYou have to dream. We all have to dream. Dreaming is OK. Imagine me teaching from space, all over the world, touching so many peoples lives. Thats a teachers dream! I have a vision of the world as a global village, a world without boundaries. Imagine a history teacher making history!
Christa McAuliffeI will have a one-hour program called the Mission Watch, where I will describe details of the mission and give additional information about the lessons from space.
Christa McAuliffe