Puneet Varma (Editor)

3352 McAuliffe

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Discovered
  
6 February 1981

Spectral type
  
A-type asteroid

Discovery site
  
Anderson Mesa Station

Orbits
  
Sun

Discoverer
  
Norman G. Thomas

Asteroid group
  
Amor asteroid

Similar
  
Sun, Solar System, 4954 Eric, 3362 Khufu, 3047 Goethe

3352 McAuliffe /məˈkɔːlf/ is an Amor and Mars-crosser asteroid which was discovered by Norman G. Thomas on February 6, 1981. It is named in memory of Christa McAuliffe, the civilian astronaut who died in the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster. The ones 3350 Scobee, 3351 Smith, 3353 Jarvis, 3354 McNair, 3355 Onizuka, and 3356 Resnik commemorate the other crew members.

McAuliffe is an A-type asteroid, meaning that it is rich in olivine. It was the original target of the 1998 Deep Space 1 mission, but that mission was eventually rerouted to 9969 Braille.

References

3352 McAuliffe Wikipedia