Bittersweet triumph for 1st teacher in space

0 Comments | USA TODAY, August, 2007 | by Traci Watson

CAPE CANAVERAL -- Space shuttle Endeavour safely carried teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan into orbit Wednesday, fulfilling her long-deferred dream and overcoming one of the agency's greatest failures.

"Morgan racing toward space on the wings of a legacy," said Mission Control commentator Rob Navias as Endeavour dwindled to what resembled a bright shooting star in Florida's skies.

NASA last tried to send a teacher into space on shuttle Challenger on Jan. 28, 1986. The ship exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing social studies instructor Christa McAuliffe and six crewmates. Morgan, McAuliffe's backup, was on hand to see her friend's mission end in tragedy.

Roughly 45 seconds after liftoff Wednesday, Endeavour commander Scott Kelly radioed Mission...

Premium Content Partnership | MyWire provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works. MyWire
 

BNET TalkbackShare your ideas and expertise on this topic

Please add your comment:

  1. You are currently: a Guest |
  2.  

Basic HTML tags that work in comments are: bold (<b></b>), italic (<i></i>), underline (<u></u>), and hyperlink (<a href></a)