RA Action:

News from the NEA Annual Meeting

Pre-Annual Meeting Edition
June 2008

A Star Teacher

Educator Astronaut Barbara Morgan to Address Delegates on July 4

Elementary teacher and Educator Astronaut Barbara Morgan is NEA's Friend of Education this year. Space exploration "really opens up a world of opportunity for our kids," she says. Photo courtesy of NASA

Even as the rocket's red glare illuminates the nation's capital on this Fourth of July, the 2008 NEA Representative Assembly will honor one of its own shooting stars: NASA astronaut and Idaho elementary teacher Barbara Morgan.

Last summer, Morgan blasted off aboard the space shuttle Endeavor, becoming the space agency's first Educator Astronaut. For those 14 days in August, Morgan worked as a regular mission specialist, delivering supplies to the International Space Station. And when she came back to Earth, she continued her own mission: To teach the importance of science, math, and space exploration.

"There's so much to learn about space exploration. It really opens up a world of opportunity for our kids," Morgan told an Idaho audience this year, according to AP. "It's important to remember our world doesn't stop with planet Earth."

For Morgan's tirless work in inspiring students, and in elevating teaching as a profession, as well as her dedication to public service, NEA will honor her on July 4 with the 2008 Friend of Education Award.

Previous recipients of the award include U.S. Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton, as well as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley—all individuals whose leadership has significantly benefited education, educators, and students.

While Morgan's journey to space reached its apex last summer, it began more than 20 years ago when she answered a NASA ad in a professional journal, shortly after President Reagan announced plans to send a teacher to space. In 1986, she found herself at Johnson Space Center, working alongside a cheery New Hampshire teacher—Christa mcAuliffe.

Morgan was McAuliffe's backup on the doomed mission of the space shuttle Challenger, a brief flight that ended in tragedy. And she told NEA Today last year that her former colleague would be with her always, even when she took off on the Endeavor. "Teachers all over world carry her with them. Christa was and always will be our teacher in space."

After the Challenger explosion, Morgan returned to a third-grade classroom in Idaho. But she continued to lecture, consult, and design curriculum for NASA, and she didn't hesitate when they called in 1998 and asked—would you like to return to the space flight queue?

The answer, of course, was yes.

"I keep thinking about my grandfather," who lived to 90, Morgan told AP. "In his life he saw travel with horses and carts... and he lived long enough to see the first space shuttle launch and land."

Today's students will see even greater things, she promised.

With her example to lead them.