1. Barbara Radding Morgan was born on November 28,1951 and is an American teacher and a former NASA astronaut.
23 Facts About Barbara Morgan
1. 2.
Barbara Morgan participated in the Teacher in Space Project as backup to Christa McAuliffe for the 1986 ill-fated STS-51-L mission of the Space Shuttle Challenger.
3.
In 1998, eight years after the Teacher in Space Project had ended, she was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate, training as a mission specialist; astronaut Morgan flew on STS-118 in August 2007.
4.
Barbara Morgan was born to Dr and Mrs Jerry Radding in 1951 and raised in Fresno, California, where she attended Herbert Hoover High School.
5.
Barbara Morgan obtained her teaching credential from Notre Dame de Namur University in nearby Belmont in 1974.
6.
Barbara Morgan began her teaching career in 1974 on the Flathead Indian Reservation at Arlee Elementary School in Arlee, Montana, where she taught remedial reading and math.
7.
From 1978 to 1979, Barbara Morgan taught English and science to third graders at Colegio Americano de Quito in Quito, Ecuador, for a year.
8.
From 1979 to 1998, Barbara Morgan taught second, third, and fourth grades at McCall-Donnelly Elementary School.
9.
Barbara Morgan was selected as the backup candidate for the NASA Teacher in Space Project on July 19,1985.
10.
From September 1985 to January 1986, Barbara Morgan trained with Christa McAuliffe and the Space Shuttle Challenger crew at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas.
11.
Barbara Morgan taught second and third grades at McCall-Donnelly Elementary and continued to work with NASA's Education Division, Office of Human Resources and Education.
12.
In January 1998,12 years after McAuliffe's death, Barbara Morgan was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate and reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1998 to begin training to become a full-time astronaut.
13.
Barbara Morgan served in the Astronaut Office CAPCOM Branch, working in Mission Control as prime communicator with on-orbit crews.
14.
Barbara Morgan was initially scheduled to fly on the STS-118 mission on Space Shuttle Columbia in November 2004.
15.
NASA Administrator Michael D Griffin clarified at a press conference after STS-118 that Morgan was not considered a mission specialist educator, but rather was a standard mission specialist, who had been a teacher.
16.
Three weeks after Barbara Morgan's mission ended, she conducted her first space education assignment at Walt Disney World in Florida.
17.
Barbara Morgan served as robotic arm operator and transfer coordinator, coordinating the transfer of over 5,000 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station, and bringing home over 3,000 pounds.
18.
On June 28,2008, Barbara Morgan announced that she would leave NASA for a teaching job at Boise State University.
19.
On July 4,2008, Barbara Morgan received the "Friend of Education" award from the National Education Association.
20.
Barbara Morgan appeared on the 2020 Netflix documentary miniseries Challenger: The Final Flight.
21.
Barbara Morgan received the Adler Planetarium Women in Space Science Award in 2008.
22.
Barbara Morgan is married to writer Clay Barbara Morgan of McCall, Idaho; they have two sons.
23.
Barbara Morgan is a classical flutist who enjoys jazz, literature, hiking, swimming, and cross-country skiing.