Barbara Morgan was an Idaho elementary schoolteacher before being selected as the back-up candidate for NASA鈥檚 Teacher in Space programme in July 1985. She and Christa McAuliffe were chosen from 11,000 applicants. The two trained together with the rest of the Challenger crew at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and were next-door neighbours. When Challenger exploded after launch in January 1986, the Teacher in Space programme was put on hold until 1998, when education once again became a NASA priority. Despite the loss of the Columbia shuttle in February, Morgan expects to be heading to the International Space Station next year.
Knowing what happened to Challenger in 1986 and to Columbia in 2003, are you in any way apprehensive about your upcoming space flight?
I am not nervous or apprehensive about it. I will be alert on the launch pad. We train for problems the best we can, we try to minimise risk the best we can. I believe we will do our best. We will not return to flight until we are ready to return to flight.
Advertisement
Where were you when you heard there was a problem with Columbia?
I was flying in the shuttle training aircraft, which flies during every shuttle launch and landing to characterise the weather conditions at Kennedy Space Center. It is flown by whoever is the chief astronaut for that particular landing, and they always take another astronaut with them to shadow, because it is great for training. I just happened to be the shadow for the Columbia landing.
Will the loss of Columbia make it harder to interest children in space flight?
Not at all. Space is a natural motivator for children. They are natural explorers. It has been said that if you don鈥檛 keep children interested with exciting things in the classroom, they will be exploring the undersides of their desks.
What reactions have you heard from children across the US to the Columbia disaster?
They feel terrible about what happened, just like children did with Challenger, and they understand it is an enormous loss to lose seven people. NASA and the families of the astronauts have received hundreds of thousands of letters from children, saying they feel terrible and sending their thoughts and prayers. Their letters are very encouraging. These children know that what the crew was doing is important and want to see it continue.
Some have argued that your place on the shuttle or on the space station would be better used by sending a scientist instead. How do you respond?
Teacher-astronauts have a very important role in teaching people about space exploration and what goes on during a shuttle mission. But we are also fully trained as astronauts. We go through the same training as all NASA astronauts before a flight and will share in important duties on each mission. On my particular mission, which is to take up to the International Space Station part of a huge truss that is being built to provide power, my first responsibility is to direct and choreograph three space walks. My job is to know everything that the two space-walkers are doing, how they are doing it, and when. I will be in constant communication with them and mission control from the flight deck of the shuttle during the entire space walk.
Would it not be more cost-effective to teach your lessons about space from Earth, using information gathered from satellites or robotic spacecraft?
There is definitely a place for satellites and robotic spacecraft. Look at all we are learning from the Hubble Space Telescope. But the human side is equally valuable. One of my jobs in space will be to do everything with the eyes, ears, heart and mind of a schoolteacher who has had experience in the classroom. I will be able to bring all that I do back to the classroom with me. Education has a renewed importance now in NASA under our new administrator Sean O鈥橩eefe. Education is right up there with space science, human exploration of space and aeronautics.
What will you be teaching from space?
Rather than having specific lectures, the teaching will be driven by what is going on with the mission. For example, on launch day we will be focusing on the launch. On the days we transfer equipment from the shuttle to the space station the focus will be on that. We will be downlinked to children in their classrooms during every phase of the mission. On the days we cannot talk we will have lots of interactive activities for them to do.
Will some students actually get to talk to you and ask you questions while you are in space?
We sure hope so, and we have lots of technologies for doing that now. I have been learning to use a ham radio. I just got my ham operator鈥檚 licence and I have been learning how to use it on the space station.
What do you say to those who ask how NASA can justify spending large sums of money on space flight when there are so many unanswered questions about life on Earth?
Life is all about living and learning. Part of exploring space is learning about Earth. NASA鈥檚 mission goals are to explore the universe, and also to explore and understand Earth. A third goal is to inspire the next generation of explorers.
In the 1960s, sending people into space was motivated largely by patriotism. How much of the US鈥檚 manned space programme today has to do with patriotism?
We have an international space programme today. We have international partners. From the US standpoint, our exploration of space plays a very big part in our people鈥檚 education and whether we are ready to face the technological challenges that keep our country at the important level that it is at.
As a schoolteacher 鈥� and as a woman 鈥� has there ever been a time over your 18 years with NASA when you felt like an outsider in a tight-knit community of mainly male test pilots and scientists?
No. NASA is an open place. As far as I can tell all the doors have been completely open here.
When did space exploration become important to you?
My father was a doctor, so I grew up with an appreciation of science. My parents gave me a small telescope when I was young, so space exploration has always been something I鈥檝e been interested in. NASA鈥檚 Teacher in Space programme eventually gave me a way in. I remember in second grade reading about how NASA had started sending chimpanzees into space, and I was excited about that and followed the media coverage from that point on. I also remember my many girl scout camp expeditions, looking up at the stars and asking lots of questions. Although I鈥檝e been interested in space exploration, I never considered it as a career and I鈥檓 glad I chose to be a teacher. I鈥檝e taught a lot of astronomy to my students for many years.
What was it like training with Christa McAuliffe?
We started with a week-long series of physical and psychological tests. We were poked, prodded and probed until NASA probably knew us inside and out better than we knew ourselves. My favourite part of the training was when we worked with the crew in the orbiter simulators, learning to work as a team trying to solve all the problems on launch, orbit and landing that need to be solved together. As a teacher you are always looking for ways to fit what you learn into your classroom.
I鈥檒l never forget the time just before Christa and I had our first flight in a NASA T-38 training jet, when we did our ejection-seat training. Before the actual flight you learn ejection procedures in a simulator. Christa perfected her use of the simulator. It was my turn next and I thought I had done the exact procedure that Christa had done, but I wasn鈥檛 ejecting. I failed several times. The handles to the ejection seat kept sticking. I remember my trainer saying: 鈥淒on鈥檛 worry, we鈥檝e been having trouble with the ejection simulator. The real hardware works.鈥� We joked about it and continued from there and I didn鈥檛 worry. Christa was a wonderful person and a great teacher.
What happened after the Challenger disaster?
Christa made such a huge impact around the country even before Challenger launched. Shortly after the accident, NASA called me to headquarters and asked if I would carry on with the programme and accept an opportunity to fly when the time came. There was no question in my mind that the programme should continue. What was important to me was education and our children鈥檚 future. After the Challenger accident there were children all over this country looking to see how adults handle such a bad situation.
Do you view space flight differently today than when you first joined NASA?
Yes. There have been some hard lessons learned. Before the Challenger accident it was all about the wonder of the universe and the curiosity about ourselves as human beings and our place on our planet and in the universe. That aspect of space flight really hasn鈥檛 changed, but now there鈥檚 the question of human nature and risk. Often the things that are most worthwhile doing involve risk 鈥� justified risk taken in pursuit of knowledge. Sometimes the price of learning and growing includes risk and sacrifice.
Astronauts are often referred to as risk specialists, but I think that is a very bad message to send to our students. Thousands of my colleagues and their students, especially in the inner cities, face greater danger day in and day out than NASA astronauts. The idea of astronauts as risk specialists whose lives should be valued differently is not a good one to teach our children. It is also not fair to our astronauts. They are no more expendable than the rest of us.
Since the Challenger disaster, NASA has sent no teachers into space. Was that a mistake?
Yes. I thought we should have got back on the horse that bucked us off. Our students and teachers had been waiting years for a teacher in space. Not flying sends a negative message. What Christa did was extremely important and if it was important then, it is still important now.