Posted by Ray Katz in NASA, current, history
NASA’s ex-teachers in space
We lost our first “teacher-in-space,” Christa McAuliffe, when the Challenger blew up in 1986.
McAuliffe’s backup, Barbara Morgan, became a full-fledged astronaut and had a successful flight aboard STS-118 in 2007.
The next 2 teachers in space
Now, we’re going to have our first flight with 2 (former) teachers. Joseph Acaba and Richard Arnold II will fly aboard the next shuttle mission, and work on the continuing construction of the International Space Station. Both astronauts are “rookies”, but they will be performing multiple EVAs—a challenging and dangerous job.
Not much teaching
Although trained as teachers, Acaba and Arnold will do a minimal amount of teaching on the mission. (They have an interview scheduled with students during the flight.) There’s just too much other urgent work to do.
