Christa McAuliffe Middle School opened in the Fall of 1986. The school is named after Sharon Christa Corrigan McAuliffe, a teacher from Concord, New Hampshire who was selected from among more than 11,000 applicants to participate in the NASA Teacher in Space Project. As a youth, she was inspired by the Apollo moon landing program, and wrote years later on her NASA application form that "I watched the Space Age being born, and I would like to participate!" She was one of seven crew members killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986, at the age of 37 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.  Her ambition and passion to educate is a legacy that will continue to live on.