Educator In Space

Former Idaho elementary school teacher Barbara Morgan has been part of the NASA Educator In Space program since its inception in 1985. Morgan taught 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades at McCall-Donnelly Elementary School for many years, leaving in 1985 to train with NASA and returning from 1986 to 1998.  In 1998, she returned to the reactivated program as a Educator Mission Specialist. She is a full-time astronaut based at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and flew on the space shuttle Endeavor's flight to the International Space Station in August of 2007. During the flight, Morgan's duties included operating the shuttle's robotic arm and overseeing the transfer of supplies and equipment between the shuttle and the station. To read about my October 3, 2007, visit with Morgan following her shuttle flight, click here.

On July 19, 1985, Morgan was selected as the backup for the Teacher in Space Program and trained for several months with the Teacher in Space, Christa McAuliffe, and the Challenger crew at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. After the shuttle Challenger explosion on January 28, 1986, Morgan returned to teaching, but continued to assist with NASA's Education Division. She spoke to students throughout the United States, designed curriculum for use in classrooms and served on the National Science Foundation's Federal Task Force for Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering.  I was pleased that, in April 2002, NASA re-started the Educator In Space program and named Morgan as a mission specialist.  Earlier that year, I had written to urge NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe to bring the program back.  Click here to read a copy of that letter.

Morgan is a native of Fresno, California, and graduated with honors from Stanford University. She has taught at Montana's Flathead Indian Reservation, at Colegio Americano de Quito in Quito, Ecuador, and in McCall-Donnelly. She is married with two sons.

Useful Links

Barbara Morgan biography on NASA

Preflight Interview: Barbara Morgan

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