Topic: Barbara Morgan

Barbara Radding "Barb" Morgan (born November 28, 1951) is an American teacher and a former NASA astronaut. She also participated in the Teacher in Space program as the backup to Christa McAuliffe for the ill-fated STS-51L mission of Space Shuttle Challenger. She then trained as a Mission Specialist, and flew on STS-118 in August 2007. Leading up to STS-118, Morgan joined Sally Ride and Shannon Lucid as female astronauts widely covered by the media.

Morgan was born to Dr. and Mrs. Jerry Radding in 1951 and raised in Fresno, California, where she attended Hoover High School. She earned a B. A., with distinction, in Human Biology from Stanford University in 1973, and obtained her teaching credential from Notre Dame de Namur University, Belmont CA in 1974.

Morgan began her teaching career in 1974 on the Flathead Indian Reservation at Arlee Elementary School in Arlee, Montana, where she taught remedial reading and math. From 1975 to 1978, she taught remedial reading/math and second grade at McCall-Donnelly Elementary School in McCall, Idaho. From 1978 to 1979, Morgan taught English and science to third graders at Colegio Americano de Quito in Quito, Ecuador for a year. From 1979 to 1998, Morgan taught second, third, and fourth grades at McCall-Donnelly Elementary School.