Jan 21 2003
From The Space Library
NASA launched a nationwide campaign to recruit elementary, middle, and high school classroom teachers for its astronaut corps, building on the legacy of its Teacher in Space Project of 1985. NASA had selected Christa McAuliffe and Barbara R. Morgan from among 12,000 applicants for the first project, which had ended tragically when Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after launching on 28 January 1986 with McAuliffe on board. McAuliffe's backup Barbara R. Morgan had rejoined NASA in 1998 to train and qualify as a mission specialist. In December 2002, NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe had announced Morgan's assignment to a November assembly mission to the ISS. NASA planned for the new recruitment campaign to extend the legacy of McAuliffe and the work of Morgan, making future educator-astronauts as much a part of the astronaut corps as test pilots, engineers, physicians, astronomers, geologists, and scientists from other disciplines. To accomplish this goal, NASA planned to train teachers with proven technical skills, making them eligible for missions ranging from 12-day Shuttle flights to months-long residencies aboard the ISS. Because of their ability to communicate with students in the classroom more effectively than traditional NASA astronauts, the educator-astronauts would be a critical part of an educational initiative to “make math and science as inspiring to youngsters as pop music and sports.(Mark Carreau, “NASA Seeking a Few Good Teachers,” Houston Chronicle, 22 January 2003.
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