Teacher in Space Project
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The Teacher in Space Program (TISP) was a NASA program designed to educate students and spur excitement in math, science, and space exploration. Christa McAuliffe was selected to be the first teacher in space in 1984 with Barbara Morgan as her alternate. However, McAuliffe died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster (STS-51-L), which was supposed to make her the first teacher in space, and the first "civilian" (non-astronaut) in space. NASA halted the project amid concerns surrounding the risk of sending civilians to space.
In the 1990s NASA once again decided to reopen its selection process, but with a more rigorous approach dubbed the Educator Astronaut Program. Instead of five months of training, these would be full-time professional astronauts with an education specialty.
Morgan was selected as NASA's first Educator Mission Specialist in January 1998, about 12 years after McAuliffe's death. She is assigned to the crew of STS-118, which is scheduled to launch in June of 2007. Morgan will not teach the same live lessons that McAuliffe was supposed to teach more than 20 years before. Instead, she will integrate her duties as a fully trained astronaut with her education activities, which will include communicating with teachers and students on earth.
Other Educator Mission Specialists, added in the 2004 class, include[1]:
