On July 19, 1985, a high school teacher named Christa McAuliffe was selected to become the first American civilian to fly to space.
McAuliffe won NASA’s Teacher in Space Project and was selected from more than 11,000 applicants to ride aboard the space shuttle Challenger.
Vice President George H. W. Bush made the announcement on July 19, and McAuliffe spent the rest of the year training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Source: https://www.space.com/39251-on-this-day-in-space.html