Teacher in Space Project
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Image:TeacherInSpaceLogo.jpg The Teacher in Space Project (TISP) is a NASA program designed to educate students and spur excitement in math, science, and space exploration. Christa McAuliffe was selected to be the first teacher in space in 1984 with Barbara Morgan as her alternate. McAuliffe died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, which was supposed to make her the first teacher in space, and the first "civilian" (non-aviator) in space. NASA halted the project until 1998 amid concerns surrounding the risk of sending civilians to space.
Morgan was selected as the first Educator Astronaut in January 1998, about 12 years after McAuliffe's death. Morgan is assigned to the crew of STS-118, which is scheduled to launch around November 2006. She is to broadcast the same live lessons that McAuliffe was supposed to teach more than 20 years ago.
The characterization of a "teacher in space" as a "guest astronaut" or "civilian" is intended to distiguish a participant in the program from the more traditional career astronauts and from scientists who might act as mission specialists whose entreé into that career path is based more rigorously on specialized skills.