Teacher in Space Patch
The Teacher in Space Project began as an outgrowth of NASA's Space Flight Participation Program which was designed to expand Space Shuttle flight opportunities to a wider segment of private citizens. On August 27, 1984, President Ronald Reagan announced that a teacher would be chosen as the first private citizen to fly on the Space Shuttle. During the application period, from December 1, 1984 to February 1, 1985, more than 11,000 teachers from all 50 states applied. After an exhaustive selection process, Vice President George Bush announced NASA's final selection at the White House ceremony on July 19, 1985. Sharon Christa McAuliffe, a high school economics and history teacher in Concord, NH, was selected from among ten finalists to fly the Teacher in Space Project. McAuliffe and her back-up, Barbara Radding Morgan, began their astronaut training at the Johnson Space Center in September in preparation for the Space Shuttle Mission 51L scheduled for launch in January, 1986. Two live TV teaching lessons were to be broadcast and recorded from the Space Shuttle Challenger. The lessons were experiments designed to demonstrate the effect of microgravity in space on hydroponics, magnetism, Newton's laws, effervescence, chromatography and simple machines. Tragically, an explosion of the Challenger Spacecraft one minute and 13 seconds after liftoff on January 28, 1986 claimed the lives of all crew members. 4" diameter embroidered patch. Availability: Usually ships within one business day.
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