Educator Astronaut Biography: Barbara R. Morgan

NAME: Barbara RaddingMorgan
NASA Astronaut

PERSONALDATA: BornNovember 28, 1951, in Fresno, California. Married to Clay Morgan. They have twosons. Barbara plays flute and enjoys reading, hiking, swimming, skiing, and herfamily.

EDUCATION: Hoover High School, Fresno,California, 1969; B.A., Human Biology, with distinction, Stanford University,1973; Teaching Credential, College of Notre Dame, Belmont, California, 1974.

ORGANIZATIONS: National Education Association;Idaho Education Association; National Council of Teachers of Mathematics;National Science Teachers Association; International Reading Association;International Technology Education Association; ChallengerCenter for Space Science Education.

SPECIALHONORS: PhiBeta Kappa, NASA Headquarters Special Service Award, NASA Public Service GroupAchievement Award. Other awards include Idaho Fellowship Award, University ofIdaho President’s Medallion Award, International Technology EducationAssociation Lawrence Prakken Professional Cooperation Award, Challenger Centerfor Space Science Education Challenger 7 Award, National Space Society SpacePioneer Award for Education, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce Wright Brothers“Kitty Hawk Sands of Time” Education Award, Women in Aerospace Education Award,National PTA Honorary Lifetime Member, and USA Today Citizens of theYear.

EXPERIENCE: Morgan began her teaching career in1974 on the Flathead Indian Reservation at Arlee Elementary School in Arlee,Montana, where she taught remedial reading and math. From 1975-1978, she taughtremedial reading/math and second grade at McCall-Donnelly Elementary School inMcCall, Idaho. From 1978-1979, Morgan taught English and science to thirdgraders at Colegio Americano de Quito in Quito, Ecuador. From l979-l998, shetaught second, third, and fourth grades at McCall-Donnelly Elementary School.

NASAEXPERIENCE:Morgan was selectedas the backup candidate for the NASA Teacher in Space Program on July 19,1985. From September 1985 to January 1986, Morgan trained with ChristaMcAuliffe and the Challenger crew at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston,Texas. Following the Challengeraccident, Morgan assumed the dutiesof Teacher in Space Designee. From March 1986 to July 1986, she worked withNASA, speaking to educational organizations throughout the country. In the fallof 1986, Morgan returned to Idaho to resume her teaching career. She taughtsecond and third grades at McCall-Donnelly Elementary and continued to workwith NASA’s Education Division, Office of Human Resources and Education. Herduties as Teacher in Space Designee included public speaking, educationalconsulting, curriculum design, and serving on the National Science Foundation’sFederal Task Force for Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering.

Selected by NASA as a mission specialist in January1998, Morgan reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1998. Following thecompletion of two years of training and evaluation, she was assigned technicalduties in the Astronaut OfficeSpace Station Operations Branch. She then served in the Astronaut Office CAPCOMBranch, working in Mission Control as prime communicator with on-orbit crews.More recently, she served in the Robotics Branch of the Astronaut Office. Morganis assigned to the crewof STS-118, an assembly mission to the International SpaceStation. The mission will launch in 2007.

LastUpdated: May 2007

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