Updated: Fri, Apr 12, 2002, 2:37 PM ET (1837 GMT)
Originally Posted: Fri, Apr 12, 2002, 10:02 AM ET (1402 GMT)
Barbara Morgan, the runner up in the 1980s Teacher in Space competition, will be named to a crew of a 2004 shuttle mission to the International Space Station on Friday, CNN reports. The article on CNN's web site said that sources "familiar with the space agency" revealed that NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe will announce the assignment in a speech at Syracuse University Friday afternoon. A SPACE.com article published later Friday, though, indicated that while the agency is interested in flying Morgan on a future shuttle mission to ISS, no particular mission has been selected, and such a flight is unlikely to take place until the "core complete" portion of the station is finished after 2004. Morgan was an Idaho elementary school teacher when she was selected as the runner-up to Christa McAuliffe, who was killed in the Challenger accident in 1986. When NASA announced in 1998 that John Glenn would fly on a shuttle mission later that year, the agency also announced that Morgan would be selected to become a full-fledged astronaut candidate, eligible to be selected to future missions, although to date she had not been assigned to any.

Related Links:

•  CNN article
•  SPACE.com article
•  NASA JSC bio of Morgan