Alexandria, VA - Challenger Center for Space Science Education is pleased to announce that Teacher in Space Christa McAuliffe's original lessons are now available for teachers on the Challenger Center website at www.challenger.org. The lessons feature links to videos of Christa McAuliffe and her back-up NASA Educator Astronaut Barbara Morgan performing them on Earth and in ZeroG, and include step-by-step instructions for teachers to use the activities in the classroom with students. Using these activities, teachers can replicate that which Christa would have shared from orbit.

20 years have passed since the loss of the Challenger's STS-51L crew on January 28, 1986. That mission, had it been completed, would have brought these special science lessons to children around the world through live and recorded lessons to be conducted in space by Christa. The lessons, prepared for the nation and the world's children, were sadly never performed.

"Christa's wonderful teaching gift and spirit have been captured on the videos lessons, and her remarks and actions in training accomplish most of her lessons plans", said the project editor Jerry Woodfill of NASA's Space Educator's Handbook. Her often quoted remark "I touch the future, I teach" is validated through the distribution of these materials by NASA and Challenger Center, the organization formed to carry on the educational mission of the crew. Students experiencing the lessons will be the future touched by Christa's teaching gift. A podcast about the lessons is also available.

"We join Christa's mother, Grace Corrigan in our delight that Christa's Lessons from Space are now available online through Challenger Center! What a wonderful way to celebrate Christa's legacy as Teacher in Space and alumna of Framingham State College. We will certainly be sharing her lessons with teachers and children who visit our Challenger Learning Center as well as the College's undergraduate pre-service teachers. In fact, we have already incorporated a version of her magnetic field experiment in the Challenger Learning Center and we have the actual prototype model Christa and Barbara used in their training on display in the FSC Library," said Mary Liscombe, Director of the Christa Corrigan McAuliffe and Challenger Learning Center at Framingham State College.

The project was made available with the support of NASA and Jerry Woodfill, editor of Challenger's Lost Lessons: The Never Done Educational Demonstration of STS-51L (a project of the Space Educator's Handbook, OMB/NASA Report 3S677).

Challenger Center for Space Science Education was founded in 1986 by the families of the astronauts of the space shuttle Challenger 51-L mission. It is dedicated to the educational spirit of that mission and impacts over 300,000 students and 25,000 teachers each year. Challenger Learning Center programs at 50 centers around the world continue the crew's mission of engaging teachers and students in science, mathematics, engineering and technology. For more information about Challenger Center, visit www.challenger.org. For more information about the Christa Corrigan McAuliffe and Challenger Learning Center at Framingham State College, visit www.christa.org.

For program information, please contact:

Rita Karl, Director of Educational Programs
Challenger Center for Space Science Education, Alexandria, VA 703-535-1345; rkarl@challenger.org

For more information about the Christa Corrigan McAuliffe and Challenger Learning Center at Framingham State College, please contact:

Mary Liscombe, Director
(508) 626-4056; mliscom@frc.mass.edu

About Challenger Center for Space Science Education

We are a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization founded in 1986 by the families of the astronauts tragically lost in the Challenger 51-L mission. Dedicated to the educational spirit of that mission, Challenger Center programs continue the crew's mission of engaging students in science, math and technology and foster in them an interest to pursue careers in those fields. For more information on our diverse programs, including our network of Challenger Learning Centers, please click to www.challenger.org.