Here are 20 Female Astronauts You Should Definitely Know

10. Barbara Morgan

In the 1980s, NASA undertook the Teacher in Space program, an effort intended to garner more public interest in space, especially for young students. This Reagan-era plan would train civilian teachers to go into space as Payload Specialists. Said teachers would then be able to return to their classrooms and beyond in order to share their unique experiences in space.

The first candidate for the program, New Hampshire teacher Christa McAuliffe, tragically died during the Challenger disaster in 1986. After the incident, NASA canceled the Teacher in Space program in 1990.

However, McAuliffe’s backup, teacher Barbara Morgan, did not quit. Shortly after the Challenger disaster, she became the Teacher in Space designee until the program’s end. This included curriculum design, public speaking, and a position with the National Science Foundation, along with her duties as a second and third-grade teacher.

In 1998, Morgan was officially selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA. She began training to become a Mission Specialist. She began her first and only spaceflight in 2007, aboard STS-118. Morgan worked as a transfer coordinator as well as a robotic arm operator. This was a considerable job, considering that STS-118 was an assembly mission that transferred over 5,000 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station. The mission also returned over 3,000 pounds of materials to Earth.