Not much is known about the Christa. It arrives at the Starcademy with an android aboard calling herself Thelma, although she is found out of commission due to a missing memory crystal. When Thelma is activated, she tells the crew that the ship was named after "an Earth teacher who died during the early days of space exploration": Christa McAuliffe, the teacher chosen for the short-lived Teachers in Space Project and who died in the Challenger Explosion. Capabilities that the Christa possess but that the crew know little about are time manipulation and weapons capabilities.