US School Teacher to Fly in Space Next Year

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, December 13, 2002

US School Teacher to Fly in Space Next Year

Barbara Morgan, a 51-year-old US elementary school teacher in Idaho, will fly to the International Space Station aboard a space shuttle in November 2003, the US space agency NASA announced Thursday.

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Barbara Morgan, a 51-year-old US elementary school teacher in Idaho, will fly to the International Space Station aboard a space shuttle in November 2003, the US space agency NASA announced Thursday.

This will be the first time NASA sends another teacher into space since the 1986 space shuttle Challenger disaster. Morgan will fly as NASA's first Educator Astronaut.

Morgan was tapped by NASA in 1985 to train as the backup candidate for Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher to fly in space who died with six other astronauts when the shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after launch on Jan. 28, 1986.

Following the Challenger accident, NASA's program to send teachers into space was suspended and Morgan returned to Idaho to resume her teaching career, but continued to travel the country in support of NASA's education efforts.

"Barbara's commitment and dedication to education is an inspiration to teachers across the country," NASA administrator O'Keefe said Thursday at a ceremony highlighting Morgan's assignment.

"She embodies the spirit and desire of this agency to get students excited about space again, and I'm pleased that she'll beable to fulfill that mission from orbit aboard the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station," O'Keefe said.

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