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Sharon Christa McAuliffe Letter

National Air and Space Museum

Object Details

Creator
McAuliffe, Sharon Christa,, 1948-1986.
Topic
Astronautics
Astronauts
Space flight
Educators
Provenance
Marcia Holland, Gift, 2018, NASM.2018.0033.
Creator
McAuliffe, Sharon Christa,, 1948-1986.
Summary
This collection consists of one letter, on National Aeronautics Administration (NASA) Teacher in Space Program letterhead, from Sharon Christa McAuliffe in reply to Marcia Holland. It is signed by McAuliffe and includes a handwritten postscript. The collection also includes an invitation for the dedication ceremony of the Christa McAuliffe Elementary School in Lenexa, Kansas on September 27, 1987 at which the letter was exhibited.
Biographical / Historical
Sharon Christa McAuliffe (1948-1986) was selected from more than 11,000 applicants to become the first private citizen to fly on the Space Shuttle as part of the Teacher in Space Program. McAuliffe was assigned to be part of the crew of Space Shuttle Mission STS-51L aboard the Challenger (OV-99) and was scheduled to conduct experiments as well as teach lessons from space that would be broadcast to schoolchildren via closed-circuit television. On January 28, 1986, the Challenger exploded 73 seconds after launch when a external fuel booster failed. All seven members of the crew died. Marcia Holland was a teacher at Central Middle School in Kansas City, Kansas who wrote a letter to Christa McAuliffe wishing her well and telling her that Holland's students were keeping journals similar to that McAuliffe planned to keep during her flight onboard the Space Shuttle.
Extent
0.18 Cubic feet (1 box)
Date
1986-1987
Archival Repository
National Air and Space Museum Archives
Identifier
NASM.2018.0033
Type
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Correspondence
Invitations
Citation
Sharon Christa McAuliffe Letter, NASM.2018.0033, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Arrangement
This collection is in chronological order.
Processing Information
Arranged, described, and encoded by Jessamyn Lloyd, 2018.
Rights
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests
Genre/Form
Correspondence
Invitations
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of one letter, on National Aeronautics Administration (NASA) Teacher in Space Program letterhead, from Sharon Christa McAuliffe in reply to Marcia Holland. It is signed by McAuliffe and includes a handwritten postscript. The collection also includes an invitation for the dedication ceremony of the Christa McAuliffe Elementary School in Lenexa, Kansas on September 27, 1987 at which the letter was exhibited.
Restrictions
No restrictions on access.
Related link
Record ID
ebl-1529536225688-1529536225690-0
Metadata Usage
CC0
GUID
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/pg287ce24ea-a470-4b4a-95b3-14a11a81c423
Sharon Christa McAuliffe Letter
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