Talk:Christa McAuliffe

Died in Cape Canaveral, Florida?
She actually died over the Atlantic Ocean. I hate to quibble, but this contradicts possibly the most important aspect of the article: that she died in the Challenger disaster which happened on the way to space. Originalname37  (Talk?)  17:18, 28 April 2009 (UTC)


 * A more accurate location of death could even be "in the Atlantic Ocean." Given that the occupants of the crew cabin could have survived for some time after the orbiter disintegrated and before hitting the ocean, I don't know if giving a relative/theoretical position of death is better. I think saying Cape Canaveral has always implied that she died due to the seal malfunction near/over Cape Canaveral and it didn't contradict the flight. Britannica, for instance, says "off Cape Cape Canaveral, Florida" and I think it would be nice changing it to that. You bring up a quibble, but it's a good one. If you come across additional articles besides Britannica listing the location of death, please post again or make the correction; this is an instance where falling back on WP:VER is probably preferable. --Jh12 (talk) 20:35, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Honorariums?
Should schools and other things that are named for her be entered or would the list be to numerous? Despyria (talk) 05:33, 8 February 2015 (UTC)

Sally Ride's picture
The picture of her floating sure looks like Sally Ride's. Please double-check! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.101.196.117 (talk) 07:12, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

Cause of accident
I take strong exception to the claim that the o-rings were the cause of the accident. It is true that it is likely, but NOT proven, that the o-rings might have failed. As far as I know, the evidence is consistent with this but it is quite difficult to establish a failure mechanism beyond all reasonable doubt when the failure results in an explosion. But that is not what caused the failure. What caused the failure was human (management) error. The fact that the temperature was outside of the recommended range was judged to be an acceptable risk - according to the managers who stayed on the ground, safe and secure. These managers were under enormous pressure to launch, and there is little doubt that that strongly influenced their decision making. When a car hits a 4 ft. diameter tree at 90 mph, blaming the tree or the car's fender for the "failure" is silly. Blaming the o-ring for failing in conditions in which it was known to be likely to fail when stressed is just as silly, as is claiming it was a "design failure". They shouldn't have launched. According to the interviews of the men responsible, they would not green-light it again, which clearly indicates the fatal blunder was human error.75.90.39.77 (talk) 22:23, 7 August 2018 (UTC)

Children
It is, I think, standard Wikipedia practice to include the number (and names, and possibly ages) of the children of the subject person in the "box" at the right. Her son is mentioned in the body of the article but isn't included in the "box". I'm not sure how many kids she had, I seem to recollect one or two, but it was way too long ago. Could someone please update?75.90.39.77 (talk) 22:29, 7 August 2018 (UTC)

Grace Corrigan
Grace Corrigan, her mother, died a few days ago. Perhaps that should be added into the article at her name. Like the dad.94.234.53.68 (talk) 13:35, 17 November 2018 (UTC)

Still Alive
http://law.syr.edu/profile/sharon-mcauliffe1 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.227.96.174 (talk) 06:04, 27 November 2018 (UTC)
 * Congratulations, you found someone with the same name. It's clearly not her.... 2604:3D09:7B7A:5D00:8EF:A2A3:33E:F8C9 (talk) 20:41, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

poerfcfcghtg — Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.109.59.250 (talk) 14:23, 7 June 2022 (UTC)

Bowie State University
There is a dormitory at Bowie State University named in her honor. 2600:1003:B113:320B:3CAA:E842:D5AB:DC78 (talk) 23:55, 3 March 2023 (UTC)