In the most literal sense, this isn’t all that surprising, really. After all, Christa McAuliffe’s family had all flown out to Cape Canaveral to see the launch in person. Granted, her siblings couldn’t actually stay for the launch due to it being delayed by a few days, but her husband, parents, kids, and even her son’s classmates were all there to see her leave for space.
But in “A Journal for Christa,” McAuliffe’s mother recalled the personal effects that she had taken with her on the shuttle. There were a few of her own things — a Bob Dylan tape and Girl Scout pin, for example — but also various mementos from individual members of her family. There were pieces of jewelry from her husband, grandmother, and sister, as well as her daughter’s gold crucifix. And, to top it all off, she also had a stuffed animal that belonged to her son — a frog that technically wasn’t actually stuffed, because it wouldn’t fit in her belongings otherwise.
Conversely, her family also continued to feel her presence, even after they knew that she was gone. McAuliffe had bought Teacher-in-Space necklaces for her siblings, and the family was taken to her dorm room, where they found her shoes and athletic gear still where she had left them just that morning.
