READ MORE: Big Bird Nearly Rode on the Disastrous Challenger Mission Challenger Disaster After undergoing months of training, she was set to become the first ordinary American citizen to travel into space. That year, it was scheduled to launch on January 22 carrying a seven-member crew that included Christa McAuliffe, a 37-year-old high school social studies instructor from New Hampshire who had earned a spot on the mission through NASA’s Teacher in Space Program. Early shuttles took satellite equipment into space and carried out various scientific experiments.ĭid you know? After "Teacher in Space" Christa McAuliffe was killed during the 1986 Challenger disaster, her backup, a former math teacher named Barbara Morgan, served as a mission specialist during a 2007 flight of the shuttle Endeavor.Ĭhallenger, NASA’s second space shuttle to enter service, embarked on its maiden voyage on April 4, 1983, and made a total of nine voyages prior to 1986. When the mission was completed, the shuttle fired engines to reduce speed and, after descending through the atmosphere, landed like a glider. Launched by two solid-rocket boosters and its main engines, the aircraft-like shuttle entered into orbit around Earth. In 1976, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) unveiled the world’s first reusable manned spacecraft, known as the space shuttle.įive years later, flights began when the space shuttle Columbia embarked on a 54-hour mission.
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