Barbara Morgan, in full Barbara Radding Morgan, (born Nov. 28, 1951, Fresno, Calif., U.S.), American teacher and astronaut, the first teacher to travel into space.

Morgan’s astronaut career began on July 19, 1985, when she was selected as the backup candidate for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Teacher in Space program. As the backup to American teacher Christa McAuliffe, Morgan attended training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston from September 1985 to January 1986. When McAuliffe perished in the Challenger disaster, Morgan replaced her as the Teacher in Space designee and continued to work with NASA’s education division.

Morgan finally flew into space on the space shuttle Endeavour on Aug. 8, 2007, on STS-118. The mission was an assembly-and-repair trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Morgan operated the shuttle’s and station’s robotic arms to install hardware on the ISS and to support spacewalks.

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