Teacher-Turned-Astronaut Barbara Morgan Set for Interviews

HOUSTON -- Astronaut Barbara Morgan, whose 22-year association with NASA has taken her from an Idaho elementary classroom to a mission specialist seat on the next space shuttle, is available for satellite interviews from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. CDT Friday, July 6.

Media interested in participating should contact NASA’s Johnson Space Center Newsroom at 281-483-5111 by 5 p.m. Thursday, July 5.

Morgan, a native of Fresno, Calif. and a Stanford alumna, spent more than 20 years teaching second, third and fourth grades in McCall, Idaho. She will be one of five mission specialists on the seven-member crew of the space shuttle Endeavour, targeted to launch Aug. 7. Endeavour’s mission, designated STS-118, will continue assembly of the International Space Station. Morgan’s duties will include operating the shuttle’s robotic arm and overseeing the transfer of supplies and equipment between the shuttle and station. Morgan will take part in several education-related activities in addition to her primary duties.

First selected as a backup Teacher in Space to Christa McAuliffe in 1985, Morgan trained side by side with McAuliffe and witnessed the 1986 space shuttle Challenger accident in which McAuliffe and her six fellow crew members died. The Teacher in Space Project was suspended following that accident. But Morgan continued to work with NASA and conducted many of the visits McAuliffe would have made, talking to children and teachers all over the country. She later returned to teaching in McCall. In 1998, she was selected by NASA to train as a mission specialist. For complete biographical information about Morgan, visit:


http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/morgan.html