Teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan transformes the space shuttle and space station into an Idaho classroom

Teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan transformed the space shuttle and space station into a classroom Tuesday for her first education session from orbit, fulfilling the legacy of Christa McAuliffe with joy and also some sadness.

"I’ve thought about Christa and the Challenger crew just about every day since 20-plus years ago," Morgan said in a series of interviews right before class got underway. "I hope that they know that they are here with us in our hearts."

Morgan, 55, who was McAuliffe’s backup for the doomed 1986 flight, got her first opportunity to talk with schoolchildren late Tuesday afternoon, almost halfway through her two-week mission.

The youngsters were assembled at the Discovery Center of Idaho http://www.scidaho.org/ in Boise, less than 100 miles from the elementary school where Morgan taught before becoming an astronaut. Morgan’s two sons, now teenagers, attended inventors’ camp there years ago.

Full Story: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2007-08-14-morgan-shuttle-classroom_N.htm

***

Idaho teacher aboard space shuttle answers questions from students

By Nate Poppino
Times-News writer

The questions ranged from the fun to the thoughtful.

If you hit a baseball in space, how fast will it go? What would you do with one extra day in space?

And, the children asked former McCall teacher Barbara Morgan, how does being an astronaut relate to being a teacher?

Full Story: http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2007/08/15/news/top_story/118435.txt