A teacher travels in space -- 21 years after Challenger disaster

Morgan, a teacher turned professional astronaut, spent 13 days in space and traveled more than 5.2 million miles as part of the shuttle Endeavor’s 13-member crew.

The crew made repairs to the space station and added a new gyroscope and external spare parts platform. Morgan was in charge of a robotic arm that attached the equipment to the platform.

During the mission, Morgan spoke to students in Boise, Idaho, where she had once been a teacher, and two other groups of students, in Alexandria, Va., and Canada. She was also scheduled to speak to students in Massachusetts, but that activity was canceled because the flight had to be cut short by one day because of Hurricane Dean.

In a preflight interview released by NASA, Morgan said she hoped students would see her as an “ordinary person” who was doing things that they could take part in as well.

“What I really want them to do is to pay attention to themselves and to look very deep within themselves and dig up all the questions that they have about our world, our universe, and about space exploration,” she said. “It’s all about learning and exploring, and we want them to come with us.”

In 1985, Morgan was runner-up to Massachusetts teacher Christa McAuliffe to become the first “teacher in space” on the Challenger expedition. At that time, NASA was hoping that teachers on space shuttle missions would practically become routine. But after the Challenger exploded in January 1986, killing McAuliffe and her fellow astronauts, NASA shied away from sending teachers and civilians aboard subsequent journeys.

Morgan became a full-time “educator/astronaut” for NASA in 1998 and was initially scheduled to travel into space in 2003. But NASA delayed the trip after the space shuttle Columbia exploded earlier that year.

To many educators, Morgan’s trip was an inspiration that more teachers can become involved firsthand in space exploration and the studies of space. NASA has offered educational seminars to teachers at its centers across the country and currently has three educator/astronauts who might have a chance to fly on a future mission.

Raymond Griffin, the director of the Christa McAuliffe Center at Framingham State College in Massachusetts, was pleased that his staff and students at the college had direct contact with NASA’s launch center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., during Endeavor’s takeoff and landing. “It was special to us, because [Morgan] has a direct tie via Christa,” he said.

Students have always been interested in space studies, Griffin noted, but the extent of what they are taught about space largely depends on whether a state’s science standards contain requirements to teach about space. There hasn’t been a strong trend to either increase or decrease the teaching time devoted to space in recent years, he added.