For the last several months, Rebeca Pereira and Rachel Wachman worked on a project honoring Christa McAuliffe’s life and legacy. Christa was a history teacher at Concord High School when she was chosen to ride aboard the Challenger space shuttle as part of NASA’s Teacher in Space program.

Her mission to teach live lessons from space was unfortunately an ill-fated one: 73 seconds after its launch in January of 1986, the Challenger exploded, killing its seven crew members.

Rather than dwell on what went wrong that day, they decided that as reporters for Christa’s hometown paper, it was their responsibility to continue playing a part in preserving her legacy.

Rebeca and Rachel spoke to more than three dozen sources and produced a special edition of the Monitor telling their stories. Rebeca visited NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to report on the organization’s Day of Remembrance for its fallen astronauts. Their walking tour of Concord was part of last week’s episode of the Monitor Weekly.

And to cap it all off, the Monitor hosted a panel with four very special guests at NHTI on Wednesday, January 28th — exactly 40 years after the Challenger disaster.

Joining us were Ricky Arnold, the educator astronaut who brought Christa’s lessons into space; Kris Coronis Jacques, one of Christa’s former students; Kathleen Young, the NHPBS documentarian who produced the short-film ‘Christa’; and Amber Woods, the archivist at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center.

The Monitor is grateful for ConcordTV’s assistance with livestreaming our panel. It’s because of their help that we’re able to bring you this two-part special: the audio from our ‘Reach for the Stars’ panel, produced in collaboration with the Discovery Center.

To watch the panel in its entirety, visit ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TabKiVKoa5U⁠.

For the last several months, Rebeca Pereira and Rachel Wachman worked on a project honoring Christa McAuliffe’s life and legacy. Christa was a history teacher at Concord High School when she was chosen to ride aboard the Challenger space shuttle as part of NASA’s Teacher in Space program.

Her mission to teach live lessons from space was unfortunately an ill-fated one: 73 seconds after its launch in January of 1986, the Challenger exploded, killing its seven crew members.

Rather than dwell on what went wrong that day, they decided that as reporters for Christa’s hometown paper, it was their responsibility to continue playing a part in preserving her legacy.

Rebeca and Rachel spoke to more than three dozen sources and produced a special edition of the Monitor telling their stories. Rebeca visited NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to report on the organization’s Day of Remembrance for its fallen astronauts. Their walking tour of Concord was part of last week’s episode of the Monitor Weekly.

And to cap it all off, the Monitor hosted a panel with four very special guests at NHTI on Wednesday, January 28th — exactly 40 years after the Challenger disaster.

Joining us were Ricky Arnold, the educator astronaut who brought Christa’s lessons into space; Kris Coronis Jacques, one of Christa’s former students; Kathleen Young, the NHPBS documentarian who produced the short-film ‘Christa’; and Amber Woods, the archivist at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center.

The Monitor is grateful for ConcordTV’s assistance with livestreaming our panel. It’s because of their help that we’re able to bring you this two-part special: the audio from our ‘Reach for the Stars’ panel, produced in collaboration with the Discovery Center.

To watch the panel in its entirety, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TabKiVKoa5U.

Her laugh was contagious. Her mission was electrifying. Her plans for the future were inspiring.

Christa McAuliffe was the perfect choice for the Teacher in Space program. She understood that she was an ordinary person bringing us all along on her extraordinary journey.

It was a responsibility she took to heart. Christa sought to document her experiences and share them with the American public, to make the Space Age relatable and to illuminate the vital importance of teachers everywhere. Christa believed in the power of education and motivated her students, both literally and metaphorically, to “reach for the stars.” She reached students in their despondency and social isolation and drew them out. She validated them as people.

Since the Challenger disaster in 1986, her story has been told and retold numerous times. This special project explores her legacy as a teacher, astronaut, pioneer woman and ordinary citizen. Here in Concord, 40 years later, we remember her especially as one of our own.

To read more from our series, visit www.concordmonitor.com/christas-legacy.

Thank you to the Concord Historical Society and John Gfoerer for providing access to archival footage captured by Concord Channel 12.

This episode was produced and edited by Rebeca Pereira. The theme music in this episode was produced by Lizzy McCormack. Find the Monitor on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok at @ConcordMonitor.