Forty years ago, the U.S. space shuttle Challenger set out on a mission to not just launch satellites but to carry the first teacher into space and to inspire the promise of spaceflight into classroom...

Forty years later, Cheryl McNair remembers the shock of watching the Challenger space shuttle fall to pieces with her husband, astronaut Ronald McNair, onboard.

“Having the first educator, Christa McAuliffe, on that flight, there was a lot of student interest because there were her lessons that she was going to do up in space that the kids could follow along ...