Decades after she was picked to be Americas first teacher in space

Decades after she was picked to be America’s first teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe is still a pioneer — this time as the first woman to be memorialized on the grounds of New Hampshire’s Statehouse, in the city where she taught high school. McAuliffe was 37 when she was killed, one of the seven crew members aboard the Challenger when the space shuttle broke apart on live TV on Jan. 28, 1986. She didn’t have the chance to give the lessons she had planned to teach from space. But people are still learning from her. Benjamin Victor, the sculptor from Boise, Idaho, whose work was unveiled on Monday on what would have been McAuliffe’s 76th birthday, said McAuliffe’s “inspiration hasn’t been lost in the disaster and her memory will go on forever.”  Steven McAuliffe, her former husband, said Christa was proud to represent teachers and would be enthusiastic about being honored “as long as it was shared with all teachers and educators.”