I: "Hi! I`m Lauren, reporter from Famous T.V. Today I am going to interview Christa McAuliffe, but before I do let me tell you a little about Christa. Christa was picked to go into space because NASA wanted a teacher to go into space and observe, write a journal about the space trip, and teach lessons to students back on earth from outer space. Christa, born in 1948, is a public school teacher who taught second grade at a McCall-Donneleny Elementary in McCall, Idaho. Christa is famous for having been chosen to be the first woman teacher that will be launching into outer space. Now, I would like to introduce Christa McAuliffe! (Christa walks in from back stage) How are you today, Christa?"

C: "Fine, thank you. And you?"

I: "Fine, thanks. Let me start with asking you a few questions. How does it feel to be the first public school teacher to go into space?"

C: "Well, I feel excited and anxious. All the children from Concord will probably be watching and I don`t think anything will go wrong."

I: "Was there anything in your background or life that led you to become involved in this space flight?"

C: "Yes. NASA was going to pick a public school teacher to go into space, observe and make a journal about the space flight, and I am a teacher who always dreamed of going up into space.

I: "What kind of qualifications did you have that helped you get picked?"

C: "First, they had to look at my medical requirements and I had to explain why I wanted to go into space. Then we had to do tests on my muscles. They also zipped us up in a fabric ball which was only 34 inches in diameter. We had to stay in the ball for ten minutes. This was to learn whether any teachers were bothered by claustrophobia and I thought that it was my most difficult experience."

I: "What kind of information did you tell NASA?"

C: "I told them how excited I would be to go into space and how thrilled I was when Alan Shepard made his historic flight (not even an orbit) and when John Kennedy announced on the news that the men had landed safely on the moon, and how jealous I was of those men."

I: "Who and how many people will you be traveling with?"

C: "With seven people, Micheal Smith, Francis Schobee, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Joruis, and Judith Resnik. All of these are astronauts. I am the only teacher."

I: "What will your job be in space?"

C: "My job in space will be to observe and write a journal. I am also going to be teaching a class for students on earth about life in space and on the space shuttle and conducting experiments. I will have a one hour program called the "Mission Watch" where I will describe details of the mission and give additional information about the lessons from space."

I: What will these be called?

C: Well, one hour I will go around the space shuttle and give a guided tour of the major areas of the space shuttle orbiter and describe what is done in each area. This will be called "The Ultimate Field Trip."

I: "Why did NASA want to send a teacher into space?"

C: "The president, Ronald Reagan, promised that NASA wanted to send a teacher into space to honor the teaching profession. Also because he felt that it was important to send an ordinary citizen to experience the excitement of space travel as a representative for all Americans."

I: ''Well, I think that we are all out of time. I`m so glad to have gotten to interview you before your big day! Thank you. We will also be at the Johnson Space Center tomorrow to report the launch. See you next time on FTV!"

C: "All right. Thanks for interviewing me!"

I: " Today I am here at the Johnson Space Center where Christa willl be launching off very soon..............ten.......nine..........eight.......seven.......six........five........four....

three........two........one! LIFT OFF!"

"Why are those clouds forming? What`s happening? What`s that orange smoke? Something has gone wrong! Oh, no, not that! The Challenger (space shuttle) has exploded!"

"This is a sad day, the day Christa died, January 28, 1986. Seventy-four seconds after the launch the Challenger exploded."

"The Impact this disaster had on the Johnson Space center was for all the people involved to become much more cautious about problems so that another tragedy would not happen. There were no shuttle flights for many months. There were no more teachers sent after this tragedy, but one senator, John Glenn."