More Than 20 Years Later, Teacher-Astronaut Takes Off
"I want to get some stardust," Barbara Morgan wrote on her '85 NASA application.
Aug. 7, 2007 — -- "I want to go on the space shuttle; I want to get some stardust," Barbara Morgan wrote on her application to NASA in 1985 when she dreamed of becoming an astronaut.
It's taken more than two decades, but she's about to get her chance.
Morgan answered NASA's call inviting teachers to apply to fly on a space shuttle and became Christa McAuliffe's back-up on STS 51L -- the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger mission.
She trained with McAuliffe and was at the Kennedy Space Center in 1986 when an explosion, 73 seconds into the launch, destroyed Challenger, killing McAuliffe and the other six members of the crew.
Morgan's husband, Clay Morgan, remembers the day vividly.
"At the time of the accident, the moment of the accident, she was in front of some microphones. She was supposed to watch the launch. This was outdoors at the viewing site, and after the launch she was supposed to turn around and take questions from the press," he said.
Instead, they went to the crew quarters to help comfort the families of the Challenger astronauts.
A Role Model for Students
Morgan returned to teaching in Idaho. She said it was critical for her to help her students work through the tragedy.
"It was very important that our kids see adults in a bad situation don't give up, that they work hard to figure out what in the heck went wrong. What are we going to do about it, how we can fix it," she said.
But still, she wondered if she would ever get a chance to fly into space after NASA recovered from the Challenger accident.
"NASA had asked me would I continue on and help carry forward the work, and would I fly?" Barbara Morgan said. "I thought about that, and I wanted to do the right thing, and I believe I did do the right thing."
The goal for flying a teacher in space was simple: If regular people like teachers could go to space, they would come back to Earth to share the wonder and joy of space flight with students around the world and ignite interest in science and engineering.
Another Shuttle Disaster
In 1998, NASA announced Morgan had again been selected as an astronaut, and she began training for STS 118, a mission on board the Space Shuttle Columbia, which would go to the International Space Station.
On Feb. 1, 2003, Morgan was flying second seat in a T-38 at the Kennedy Space Center monitoring weather for the crew of STS 107, returning home in Columbia after a science mission. But Columbia never made it home.
It was a painfully familiar situation, according to her husband.
"She went to crew quarters and helped the families of the Columbia crew, so she reacted exactly the same way," said Clay Morgan.
Nine Years With NASA
Barbara Morgan remained with the space program, putting her teaching career on hold to train with NASA full time. She plans to return to teaching sometime after the upcoming mission, scheduled for launch on Wednesday.
She is 55 now, the mother of two teenage boys, a role model for students and still a believer in dreams. She says the 21 years have not been a long wait.
"It has been a lot of work, and we have been working really, really hard for many years, and it is worth the effort," she said.
Her husband Clay said Barbara was busy teaching, but always hopeful that the phone would ring. He laughs about the day they got the call from NASA inviting Morgan to come back to train as an educator astronaut for STS 118.
"She was a teacher. I'm a writer. We decided to go celebrate that night and we went to a restaurant in McCall that was our favorite," he said. "We went in there and looked at the menu and couldn't afford the food and had to apologize to the waitress who was a good friend and a mother of students, of Barb's students and had to go eat at the pizza place that night."
Morgan won't be flying just as a teacher when Space Shuttle Endeavour launches. She is a mission specialist who will be operating the robotic arm and helping transfer 5,000 pounds of supplies from the shuttle to the International Space Station.
She will get the opportunity to talk to students in Idaho, and, if time permits, to other children across the country.
She said that she will also carry memories in her heart.
"The Challenger legacy is open-ended… Christa's legacy, as our first teacher in space, is open-ended," she said.