Distinguished Educator in Residence, Emeritus, at Boise State University
Barbara Morgan is an educator and retired NASA astronaut. Morgan is the public elementary
school teacher who trained with the Challenger crew as the back-up for Teacher in Space
Christa McAuliffe, then later served as a NASA astronaut for 10 years.
Morgan graduated with honors and a bachelor’s degree in Human Biology from Stanford
University. She earned her teaching credential at College of Notre Dame (Notre Dame de
Namur University). She taught public school for 24 years in diverse locations including the Bay
Area in California, the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana, a small mountain town in Idaho,
and Colegio Americano in Quito, Ecuador. In 1985, Morgan (back-up) and Christa McAuliffe
(Teacher in Space) were selected to train with the space shuttle Challenger crew. After that
mission ended tragically shortly after lift-off with the loss of the crew, NASA asked Morgan to
continue as Teacher in Space Designee. She returned to her teaching in Idaho and continued to
work for NASA, part-time, where her duties included public speaking, educational consulting,
curriculum design, and serving on the National Science Foundation’s Task Force for Women and
Minorities in Science and Engineering.
NASA selected Morgan to the 1998 astronaut class. She flew 5.3 million miles in space in 2007
on STS-118, a two-week mission to help construct the International Space Station. Her duties
included operating the space shuttle and space station robotic arms, serving as loadmaster,
assisting the pilots with re-entry and landing, and teaching lessons from orbit to schoolchildren
on Earth. In addition to spaceflight, Morgan worked in Mission Control as prime communicator
(“Capcom”) with on-orbit crews, and she served in the Space Station Operations Branch and
Robotics Branch of the Astronaut Office.
Morgan retired from NASA in 2008 to become Distinguished Educator in Residence at Boise
State University, where she represented the university and provided vision and leadership to
the State of Idaho, primarily in STEM education. Her work included policy and program
development, advocacy, and mentoring. Currently, Morgan works with Boise State University as
Emeritus, and continues to work with national and international education organizations, other
non-profits, and NASA.
Morgan’s many awards include, most recently, the Columbia University Teachers College Medal
for Distinguished Service and the inaugural Idaho Medal of Achievement, the state’s highest
civilian honor for service. She has earned two honorary doctorates ‒ in science and public
service ‒ and has two public schools named after her.
