Give an apple to the teacher
with a twinkle in her eye
and a one-way ticket to a dream
nine miles high.
Give an apple to the teacher
tell her not to be afraid
and an apple to her daughter
who wishes she had stayed
home — light in her eyes
like the dream she held so dear
which you turned into a nightmare
little children watched in fear.
Bite an apple for the teacher
like a crater on the moon
marked, in memory of Christa
fallen back to earth, too soon.
On this day in 1986…
The Space Shuttle Challenger exploded seconds after launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida. All seven crew members were killed. The launch was rushed under unfavourable conditions, and the disaster was later shown to be caused by a preventable fault. I remember following the Teacher in Space project both at school and on the news, and the horrible aftermath of the ill-fated launch. Christa McAuliffe was selected to be the first Teacher in Space, so the accident no doubt remains ingrained on the memories of the many children who had been following her progress.