Barbara Morgan wants to be remembered as a school teacher first and an astronaut second, even the only Idahoan to ever launch into space.
Her space mission took her away from home, friends and family for nearly 10 years. Instead of snowboarding in McCall with her husband and two boys, Morgan was flying a test plane in California, training in Canada or studying at Cape Canaveral.
Her life was dramatically changed when she first entered NASA's Teacher in Space program more than 20 years ago and it was turned upside down when she began intense training based out of Houston nine years ago.
For finally achieving her goal in August by becoming the nation's first teacher in space, after years of waiting and training, we selected Morgan as the most committed Idahoan of 2007.
Rep. Margaret Henbest, D-Idaho, gave Morgan a gubernatorial proclamation earlier this month when she visited Boise designating a Barbara Morgan Day in Idaho. Henbest called Morgan's achievement "an American dream,'' and said "thank you for your patience and perseverance. You've taught us a lot.''
Morgan, who grew up in California and married a native Idahoan, studied to be a teacher, not an astronaut.
She earned her bachelor's degree in human biology from Stanford University in 1973, and teaching credential from the College of Notre Dame in Belmont, Calif., in 1974.
Months after graduating, she landed her first job teaching remedial reading and math on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana.
A year later, she moved to Idaho to teach remedial reading and math to second, third and fourth grades in McCall. She worked in the small school district through 1998. Her only break was a year-long tour to Ecuador to teach English and science.
All of the pieces in her resume were useful to being selected in 1985 from thousands of applicants to be the back-up to teacher-in-space Christa McAuliffe. They trained together at Johnson Space Center in Houston for six months before McAuliffe boarded Challenger, which blew apart on Jan. 28, 1986, in a tragic accident. All crew members were killed in front of a national audience of school children waiting for a teacher-in-space lesson.
When Morgan was asked what personal treasures she took with her into space she acknowledged those who died on the Challenger.
"My family and friends and the crew of the Challenger; I had them right here,'' Morgan said, pointing to her heart.
After the Challenger accident, Morgan returned to teaching grade-school students in McCall, but NASA asked her to stay on as the Teacher in Space designee.
She gave speeches and served on a federal task force for women. She helped NASA figure out how to include space in schools' curriculum.
She waited, patiently, for her turn to go to space.
In the meantime, NASA struggled with whether to continue the Teacher in Space program or whether to include teachers in the astronaut experience in another way. The agency chose the latter, and in 1998 Morgan was asked to become a full-fledged astronaut. She moved to Houston as a training base, but spent a lot of time traveling to other places, including Florida and Canada. Three other teachers have since become astronauts and she has worked closely with them.
Morgan trained to be a mission specialist. She was scheduled to go into space in fall 2003, but the Columbia shuttle disaster that year delayed her mission until this year.
Finally in August, Morgan made it into space aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour with six other crewmates. Their mission lasted 13 days. While in space, Morgan answered questions from school children, including 18 students taking part in a NASA Endeavour linkup at Boise's Discovery Center of Idaho. They peppered the crew with questions on subjects from weightlessness to global warming. The session lasted 20 minutes and when it was over, several of the students said they hoped to become astronauts.
"The flight was absolutely wonderful," Morgan told reporters just six hours after landing.
Her husband, Clay, said that he and his wife would like to eventually move back to Idaho and that "Barb would like to fly again,'' though the prospect is unlikely because others are prepared for similar assignments.
"She wants to keep exploring and discovering and helping teachers,'' Clay Morgan said. "If she can do that best through NASA, that would be a good thing. But now that this part of her life is done, we feel a huge pull to get back to Idaho. Maybe Boise. I don't know if we could afford to live in McCall now."
