Students at Framingham State University (FSU) today took part in a classroom lesson that was literally taught from outer space, by a pair of teacher-turned-astronauts on board the International Space Station Expedition, in collaboration with NASA and STEM on Station.
The lesson plans were created by teacher-turned-astronaut Christa McAuliffe, who on January 28, 1986, was killed in the space shuttle Challenger explosion, along with six-crew members, when the shuttle broke apart just 73 seconds after launch. FSU is Christa McAuliffe's alma mater and home to one of the Challenger Center's 43 learning centers.
Nearly 200 students today gathered at the Christa McAuliffe Center on the FSU campus and asked questions during a 20-minute live earth-to-space call, with crew members Scott Tingle — a Randolph, Mass. resident and UMass Dartmouth graduate — and Joe Acaba.
Irene Porro, director of the McAuliffe Center, says that because of the accident the lessons were never taught, "but now two astronauts, who are also former teachers, are planning to re-purpose the lessons and make them available to the world."
McAuliffe had created lessons to teach on-board the Challenger that demonstrate Newton's laws of motion, fluids in orbit, and micro-gravity.
Porro says that Christa McAuliffe is still remembered for her spirit and teaching skills, even now, more than 30 years after her death.
"Her objective was really to connect with what was happening in space and the big topics we could talk about in space," said Porro. "She wanted to connect to the whole world as a global village, and to connect people all over, as a teacher can only do."
