 Communicating this space experience, sending someone into Earth orbit who could tell us what it's like in our own terms, has long been a NASA goal. And in August 1984, the Space Flight Participant Program was given the green light by President Reagan. Today I'm 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. Last June, the semifinalists in NASA's Teacher in Space project met the press for the first time in Washington, D.C. The 114 educators selected from over 11,000 applicants spent a week in the nation's capital, becoming familiar with the history of space travel and, of course, taking notes in workshops dealing with various aspects of shuttle flight. Let's get it red hot. The next major milestone came in early July when the 10 finalists were announced. These teachers had survived an extensive screening process, but they had to demonstrate even more right stuff during their two-week stay at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. After a series of tests to ensure that they were medically fit to fly aboard the shuttle, the 10 were given a ride on the KC-135, a hollowed-out padded jet that simulates weightlessness for short periods of time. Finally, on July 19, Vice President Bush made the historic announcement. Congratulations to the elementary school teacher from McCall, Iowa, who was selected as the backup candidate, and Pista McCallum, a Concord, New Hampshire high school social studies teacher who will be the one to actually fly in space early next year. It's not often that a teacher is at a loss for words. I know my students wouldn't think so. I've made nine wonderful friends over the last two weeks. And when that shuttle goes, they might do one body. But there's going to be 10 souls that I'm making with me. Thank you. You can see everything. 10 for their selection. Pista McCallum is training in Houston. There's been a lot to learn, but they've shown that good teachers may have some experience. During her shuttle flight, in addition to keeping the journal, Mrs. McCallum will teach two live lessons from space, one called the ultimate field trip, and the other, where we've been, where we're going, while, which will be brought back via satellite to schools around the country. She also has a number of other experiments that will be filmed for classroom use after the mission is complete. Her goal? I would like to humanize the space age by giving a perspective from a non-astronaut because I think the students will look at that and say, this is an ordinary person. This ordinary person is contributing to history. And if they can make that connection, then they're going to get excited about history. They're going to get excited about the future. They're going to get excited about space. While Pista prepares for flight, life goes on in complicated answers. She just talked about the past five years. Understandably, things at the McCallum House have changed. For example, there's now a noticeable path on the freezer to the Michael Way. But husband Steven, daughter Caroline, and son Scott have taken on their added responsibilities without reservations. You know, you're talking about a human being being free of the bonds of gravity, orbiting the Earth. There aren't many human beings that have done that. So I think both of us feel that whatever the price in terms of re-adjustments are my taking on things that I probably should have been doing before anyway and hadn't done, whatever those prices are, they certainly pale in comparison to the opportunity. Even though Mrs. McCallum was a great economics teacher, I think what I learned most from her was outside the classroom, she taught me that the little person counts and that anyone can make an effect on our society and on the world. She proved that by being the first private citizen in space and being the first teacher in space. And I think she's a tribute to her profession. And we're all very proud of her. Oh, it's beautiful! I mean, the whole thing is so gorgeous. You just want to bring it all back into the classroom for the kids.