On July 19, 1985, ten teachers stood by Vice-President George H. W. Bush as he announced NASA’s selection for the new Teacher in Space Project. The winner had been chosen from 11,000 applicants: Christa McAuliffe, a 36-year-old social studies teacher from Concord, New Hampshire. 

I was a young NASA engineer working at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) when Christa was selected as the first, and only, teachernaut. Although I had the privilege to be involved in the payload training for two of the Challenger astronauts, Judy Resnik and Ellison Onizuka, I never met Christa. We were at the same college-campus-like space center for four months working in buildings across the pond from one another, but our paths didn’t cross. Almost 25 years later, as I did research for this novel, I realized what an opportunity I had missed. Christa McAuliffe was one of those remarkable people whose life and spirit inspires the rest of us.

I read many articles and books in order to better understand and know Christa McAuliffe. I was very aware of the importance of staying true to who she was as a person when I was writing scenes centering around her as a character in TAKING OFF. One book that helped me in creating the character was I TOUCH THE FUTURE by Robert Hohler, a journalist who knew Christa and her family personally. This book was recommended to me by the backup Teacher in Space Barbara Morgan (who after the Challenger accident went on to become an astronaut and fly on the space shuttle). Hohler does an excellent job of bringing Christa to life in this biography. I highly recommend it for those of you who want to read more about this amazing person.