spacetoday.net: NASA unveils Educator Astronaut program

Posted: Wed, Jan 22, 2003, 1:42 PM ET (1842 GMT)
NASA

NASA announced on Tuesday a new program to select teachers to become astronauts to fly on future shuttle missions. The Educator Astronaut program will accept applications from teachers through April 30; the agency will then select three to six applicants to train as mission specialists and be eligible to join crews of future shuttle missions. The first member of this group would likely fly in late 2005 or early 2006, with one person a year flying after that. The program will also include an "Earth Crew", a web-based interactive educational program open to teachers, students, and the general public. NASA ran a similar program, Teacher in Space, in the mid 1980s, which ended after the Challenger accident killed Christa McAuliffe. Her backup, Barbara Morgan, was selected to join the astronaut corps in 1998 and will fly on her first shuttle mission late this year. The cost of the Educator Astronaut program is estimated to be $2 million.