Christa McAuliffe is still a pioneer, decades after she was picked to become America’s first teacher in space.

A large section of the destroyed space shuttle Challenger has been found buried in sand at the bottom of the Atlantic.

A large section of the destroyed space shuttle Challenger has been found buried in sand at the bottom of the Atlantic.

The chapter about the space shuttle Challenger, which exploded shortly after liftoff Jan. 28, 1986. He knew remembering the details of the Challenger tragedy would be difficult so he put off writing about it until the end. At the time Norris was the chief engineer for shuttle contamination control and played no direct role in the Challenger launch but he observed it as a NASA insider. It was a bitter 36 degrees Fahrenheit, 15 degrees lower than the previous-coldest launch day. As Norris watched the horrifying event unfold, his mind raced to make sense of it.

Barely 100 people — all masked and seated or standing far apart — gathered in front of Kennedy Space Center’s Space Mirror Memorial. The widow of Challenger commander Dick Scobee quietly observed the anniversary from her home in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In a recent interview, June Scobee Rodgers said the presence of teacher Christa McAuliffe on the flight added to the crew’s lasting legacy. Scobee Rodgers helped establish the Challenger Center for Space Science Education in the wake of the accident, along with the other Challenger families. This year's observance focused on the Challenger crew — McAuliffe, Scobee, Michael Smith, Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Ronald McNair and Gregory Jarvis.

In moments of crisis, American presidents have sought to summon words to match the moment in the hope that the power of oratory can bring order to chaos and despair. The oratory of crisis typically consists of either a formal statement or an extemporaneous speech. And it is in our power to do something about it.”Unlike Trump, Biden was unsparing in his remarks after the insurrection at the Capitol about where blame lay. But Biden even then, in 1987, was also known for his ability to use words, albeit sometimes too many of them. The challenge for crisis oratory is to not underplay the severity of the problem or foster a new sense of panic.

(CNN) - The United States Mint is to memorialize Christa McAuliffe, the teacher and astronaut who died in the Challenger disaster in 1986, with a commemorative silver dollar coin. The Christa McAuliffe Commemorative Coin Act of 2019 was passed by Congress, and the bill will go to the President to be signed into law. The act calls for the Department of Treasury to "issue not more than 350,000 $1 silver coins in commemoration of Christa McAuliffe." If the President signs the act, the coins will be minted in 2021 to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the tragedy. FIRST uses robotic competitions to encourage children to pursue opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.