NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe today announced that Barbara Morgan, the agency’s first Educator Astronaut, has been assigned as a crewmember on STS-118, a November 2003 Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station. Morgan’s flight represents the first flight of a new Educator Astronaut program.
“NASA has a responsibility to cultivate a new generation of scientists and engineers,” said Administrator O’Keefe. “Education has always been a part of NASA’s mission, but we have renewed our commitment to get students excited about science and mathematics.”
“NASA has a responsibility to cultivate a new generation of
scientists and engineers,” said Administrator O’Keefe.
“Education has always been a part of NASA’s mission, but we have
renewed our commitment to get students excited about science and
mathematics. The Educator Astronaut program will use our unique
position in space to help advance our nation’s education goals,”
he explained.
Morgan’s assigned mission, STS-118, has as its primary
objectives to install additional truss segments that will
increase power and communications to the International Space
Station, and to deliver additional supplies for the Station’s
crew. Morgan will participate in a number of educational
events from space and be actively involved in the flight as a
fully trained NASA astronaut.
Commander Scott J. Kelly (Cmdr., USN) will lead the six-member
STS-118 crew. Charles O. Hobaugh (Lt. Col., USMC) serves as
the Space Shuttle’s pilot. Veteran NASA astronaut Dr. Scott E.
Parazynski will be making his fifth space flight. The Canadian
Space Agency’s Dr. David R. Williams will return to space for
a second time, and Lisa M. Nowak (Cmdr., USN) will — like
Morgan — make her first flight into space.
A native of McCall, Idaho, Morgan was selected in 1985 as the
backup candidate for the Teacher in Space program. Following
the Challenger accident, the program was suspended and Morgan
worked with NASA’s Education Office, meeting with teachers and
students across the country to share her space training
experiences and their relevance to the classroom and America’s
future.
In the fall of 1986 Morgan returned to teaching at McCall-
Donnelly Elementary School in Idaho, but continued to travel
the country in support of NASA’s education efforts. In January
1998, she was selected by NASA to complete her astronaut
training. For more than a year, Morgan has served as a
spacecraft communicator, or CAPCOM, in Mission Control at
NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, providing the voice
link between the flight control team and crews orbiting in
space.
“Barbara’s commitment and dedication to education is an
inspiration to teachers across the country,” concluded
Administrator O’Keefe. “She embodies the spirit and desire of
this agency to get students excited about space again, and I’m
pleased that she’ll be able to fulfill that mission from orbit
aboard the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station,”
he said.
Additional information about Barbara Morgan and the
International Space Station is available on the Internet at:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/morgan.htm
Information on NASA’s extensive education programs is
available on the web at:
