scheduled wednesday launch of two u.s. astronauts into space for the first time since 2011, we are looking back at the history of space exploration. >> firing chain is -- firing chain is armed. >> on screen is atlantis, the last of the 100 25 launches of the shuttle program. of the winner of the teacher in space competition and one of the crew on board the ill-fated space shuttle challenger. >> 15 seconds. >> 10 seconds tower. >> we were in the grandstands located directly behind her parents. >> lift off. >> after the launch everyone was cheering and excited. were seeing our colleague fly in space. such thatcing was

after approximately two minutes we were supposed to see the separation of the solid rocket boosters. i knew the sequences here after about a minute over 30 seconds, we started to see some plumes that were not correct. the vast majority of the people in the grandstands were not familiar with the sequencing and were cheering as they saw this. i was going that's not right, something is wrong. the announcer at the goddard space center said there appears to have been a major malfunction. . will never forget those words i am saying to the people around me, that is not right, something is wrong. at that point after a few more seconds he said it appears the shuttle has exploded, we are seeing pieces falling down from

the sky. >> today is a day for morning and remembering. we recall the tragedy of the shuttle challenger. loss.s truly a national 19 years ago almost to the day we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground, but we never lost an astronaut in flight. we have never had a tragedy like this. the day the challenger seven -- they did their jobs brilliantly. we mourn those seven heroes, michael smith's, ronald mcnair, allison, gregory, and christa mcauliffe. we mourn their loss as a nation together. teaching, enjoyed

very much like most of us in the teacher in space program. we were all enthusiastic about educating students and developing a thirst for knowledge. christa was from framingham, massachusetts. she was a social studies to teacheral studies who had conquered high school for several years before the teacher in space program got announced. the opportunity to fly into space and do something unique to teach students all over the world the excitement of space exploration, it appealed to her as it did to me as a science teacher, the opportunity to fly in space. >> i am directing nasa to begin a search in all of our elementary and secondary schools

and to choose as the first citizen passenger in the history of our space program one of america's finest, a teacher. programeacher in space was announced by president reagan in 1983. they were going to have a citizen fly aboard the space and teach some very exciting science lessons from space. you sign your name on the form, it was a whole packet of essays that we have to right to apply to the teacher in space program and once you have that application back a lot of the teachers are realizing this was more involved than what they wanted to do. that was the leading out process. of the teachers who asked for a

packet over 11,000 of us filled out an application. from the 11,000 ultimately from officeste the school actually selected a number of the applicants from the state to then bring in and have interviews. of uswere originally 114 candidates brought to washington. during the week we were in washington in addition to meeting all the other candidates and all these people interviewing us and all the officials and astronauts, we also got to meet one another and we became a very close group of friends. 112 of us are in washington and they selected 10 finalists. those finalists went down to houston, texas for two weeks of intense physical evaluation and testing. they measured everything you could imagine and took them up

in the infamous vomit comet where they flew in these parabolic arcs to experience weightlessness. final 10, christa and another were selected as the candidate to represent each other. going teacher who will be into space, christa mcauliffe. she plans to keep a journal of experiences in space. she said, just as the pioneer travelers for this in the wagon days kept personal journals, i am a space traveler and will do the same. good luck and god bless all of you. [applause] >> i am at a loss for words. my students would not think so. i have made nine wonderful friends over the last weeks.

when that shuttle goes -- that shuttle goes there might be one body but there will be 10 souls i am taking with me. of the big one things that sold everyone on krista. they were brought to houston, texas for six months where they went through all the intensive training evaluation. krista was a primary candidate, if anything happened to her -- then barbara was going to fly. in space she was going to do a field trip of what the space shuttle was all about in addition to that she was going from some science lessons aboard the space shuttle. [applause]

those of us that were there on the day of the launch we were surprised they were going to launch that shuttle with the cold temperatures. it was not the weather you like to think of, it was down in the 20's and that temperature excluded any thought in my mind that they would launch the shuttle but they did. after the launch everyone was cheering and excited and yelling and very thrilled that we were seeing our colleague fly in space. this was such that after approximately two minutes we were supposed to see the separation of the solid rocket boosters. i knew the sequencing and after about a minute and 30 seconds we started to see some plumes that were not correct.

people inajority of the grandstands were not familiar with the sequence and were cheering as they saw this. i said that is not right, something is wrong. at that point the announcer at the kennedy space center over the intercom said, there appears to have been a major malfunction. at that point after a few more they said the shuttle has exploded and we have seen pieces falling out throughout the sky. it immediately hit those of us that were knowledgeable on the program that those pieces -- this thing is going a few thousand miles per hour at the time it exploded and they are falling down from several miles high in the sky and the survivability was unlikely. the whole country was devastated. the whole world felt the impact

of this tragedy. of newgedy in the state hampshire, two days later we were back home and we had a big memorial service in front of the statehouse in concord here. you could hear a penny drop over the whole place. the governor spoke and a few dignitaries and state officials. it was quite moving to say the least. how could i think originally -- a lot of people did throughout the country the fear of something tragic happening was instilled in great part in concord here and the idea that establishing --

a state tribute to krista, a very exciting thing. this area we are in right now as they krista mcauliffe planetarium where stephen -- groups from all over the state of new hampshire came into see planetarium shows and a little bit of the tribute we have around here to krista. a huge, we added addition to make this they mcauliffe-sheppard center, honoring alan shepard. it helps the people of concorde krissta was anize remodel for people all around the world. role model for people all

around the world. engines will soon rocket back to the 72% to reduce pressure on the shuttle as it breaks the sound barrier. >> while nasa successfully thearted its program after challenger disaster, it took a while to do so. while they prepared for a wednesday launch of to u.s. astronauts since the shuttle program was retired in 2011, we are taking a look back at u.s. efforts in space. next, the real-life story of the woman who inspired the story hidden figures as we travel to charleston, west virginia to learn about katherine johnson, a west virginia state graduate who helped to put a man on the moon. >> she is right behind deal, mr. harrison. -- hind you,