spacetoday.net: Former teacher Morgan named to shuttle flight

Posted: Fri, Dec 13, 2002, 7:47 AM ET (1247 GMT)
Barbara Morgan (NASA/JSC)

Barbara Morgan, a former teacher who was runner-up to Christa McAuliffe in the 1980s Teacher-in-Space competition, was named on Thursday to the crew of a shuttle mission late next year. Morgan will be a mission specialist on STS-118, a flight by the shuttle Columbia in November 2003 to install a truss segment to the International Space Station. Morgan will fly as the first Educator Astronaut, a new program that NASA plans to announce more details about early next year. Morgan was an Idaho elementary school teacher when she was selected as McAuliffe's backup in 1985 for the Teacher-in-Space program. Morgan returned to teaching after the program was disbanded in the wake of the Challenger accident, but was invited to become a full-fledged astronaut in 1998, at the same time John Glenn was named to a shuttle crew. Joining Morgan on the STS-118 mission are commander Scott Kelly, pilot Charles Hobaugh, and mission specialists Scott Parazynski, Lisa Nowak, and Canadian astronaut David Williams. NASA also announced crew assignments for the STS-119 and STS-120 missions on Thursday.