The first teacher in space. On July 19, 1985, she was appointed as backup payload specialist to Christa McAuliffe, whose task was to give 15-minute classes to schoolchildren while aboard the Challenger space shuttle about life and the organization of scientific work on the space shuttle and space exploration, as well as to shoot educational video clips. But at the 73rd second, the flight ended in disaster. The “Teacher in Space” program was discontinued.