A new commemoration $1 coin will be released in 2021 featuring Framingham native Christa McAuliffe to mark the 35th anniversary of the Challenger explosion.The MetroWest Daily News reported that McAuliffe was working Concord, New Hampshire as a Concord High School social studies teacher, when she and six other astronauts were killed during the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on Jan. 28, 1986.Department of the Treasury will issue 350,000 $1 silver coins in commemoration of McAuliffe.“It is so appropriate that we pass this coin bill in her name. Christa was my friend. She was the best of us, as were her fellow astronauts on that fated day at the beginning of 1986 that for a few seconds burned so brightly with so much hope and whose lives were snuffed out in an instant as the Challenger blew up,” reads part of Rep. Steny Hoyer’s speech on the floor of the House in favor of the bill.“Christa, during the course of the competition to be the teacher in space, would visit my office that was in the Longworth House Office Building... and we would visit as she was participating in the competition,” he said. “And I saw her excitement and her anticipation. And obviously NASA saw it as well because out of those 10,000 they chose her to be the representative of the most important profession in our country, the teaching profession, without whom our society cannot succeed.”Three years after the Challenger explosion, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) was founded to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology.“The mission of FIRST ‘is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering, and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership’,” according to the bill.The commemorative coin will be sold with a $10 surcharge. The money “received by Treasury from the sale of the coins shall be paid to the FIRST robotics program for the purpose of engaging and inspiring young people, through mentor-based programs, to become leaders in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics,” according to the bill.President Donald J. Trump signed the bill on Wednesday. It was introduced by Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire.