This Day in History August 27, 1984

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Well, this was a day that changed this woman's life forever--Barbara Morgan.  I was alive, and I remember.  President Ronald Reagan announced that NASA would be putting a teacher in space.  Immediately, Idaho teacher, Barbara Morgan, knew she had to apply.  She said that she was always trying to find ways to bring the real world into her classroom.  Little did she know how real it would be for her students.

Out of 11,000 applicants, she was the runner-up.  She trained right alongside Christa McAuliffe.  You probably know that she and the other members of the Challenger disaster of January 1986 died, and poor Barbara Morgan thought she would never get the chance to fly in space.

She beat the odds, however.  Even in spite of another disaster--the Columbia Disaster of February 2003--Barbara Morgan became a full-fledged astronaut.  August 8, 2007, she and the six other members of the Shuttle Endeavor for a 13-day mission.  

She has retired from NASA, and she works for Boise State University promoting science and math.

I was not aware of this, and my hat is off to her.  She began as a 32-year-old teacher who longed to fly in space, and she was 55 before she realized her dream.  Wow!  This is a woman who could have given up--I am pretty sure I would have.  I can't imagine going on in spite of the first disaster let alone the second.  But she never gave up.  And now the shuttle program is over.  Good thing she got to do it when she did!

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