Fresno Teacher to Continue Mission that Began 21 Years Ago

Monday, January 29, 2007

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01/26/2007 (KFSN) -- This Sunday, January 28th, marks the 21st anniversary of the disaster that the Space Shuttle Challenger. Christa Mcauliffe, NASA's teacher in space was on board.

This summer, her backup, 55 year old Barbara Morgan of Fresno, will finally get to fly that mission. Morgan says she's prepared for her job as mission specialist and to teach young minds from space. She says, "It could be the moon, it's really far away. But that's a satellite, a very special satellite; it's our international space stations."

It's no surprise to find this teacher turned astronaut surrounded by students, even on the day she meets the press to to talk about her 21 year wait for her shuttle mission. She took questions about the dangers of space flight and the two shuttle disasters from the kid's first.

Morgan says, "When the challenger accident happened, yes, yes, I thought about that. . .Space flight is really risky, but you do everything you can to minimize those risks."

Two decades of training has expanded her roll from teacher in space to teacher/astronaut specialist. During her 11 day mission to the international space station mission, she'll also operate the robotic arm along with offering lessons from space.

Morgan says, "Christa was and always will be our teacher in space. That teacher in space program never ended, it became the seed for the educator astronaut program."

Teachers all across America already take her lessons into their classrooms. Clovis math teacher Jim Esquivel is one of 200 educator astronauts. He describes Morgan as an inspiration to students and adults everywhere.

Esquivel says, "To actually see Barbara Morgan achieve what was started 21 years ago, to say, you know what, I'm not just doing this going because I want to go to space, it's so much more important than that. I'm doing this for anyone who has ever wanted to go into space."

Barbara Morgan says the decision to accept NASA's offer to carry on Christa Mcauliffe's mission was easy. But the reality of a launch this summer? It isn't quite real, not yet.

Morgan says, "Yes, I'm excited but I still can't quite picture that we're there and I'm not sure that I will 'til we're strapped in ready to go."

Barbara Morgan's shuttle mission will be NASA's 118th. Its target launch date is June 28th from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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