posted 11-23-2025 11:24 AM               

Space Cover 833: Barbara Morgan: Teacher/Astronaut

Barbara Morgan was a Boise, Idaho High School teacher, back-up to Christa McAuliffe on STS-51L, member of NASA's 17th Astronaut Class, and Mission Specialist on Space Shuttle flight STS-118.

Barbara Morgan was one of the ten finalists in the Teacher-in-Space Program and served as McAuliffe's back-up on Challenger's last flight. She signed the cover above as one of the finalists, and is shown at bottom left, with McAuliffe kneeling to her left, in the photograph of all ten finalists. The photo was taken at Marshall Space Flight Center, AL in 1985 during the ten finalists' orientation tour of NASA facilities.

Autographed by both, this NASA photo captures a happy moment for Morgan and McAuliffe.

This sheet was canceled for the arrival of NASA Astronaut Class 17 at NASA/JSC and then signed by the 31 members of the1998 class, with Morgan's autograph fifth down in the left column.

Both of these covers were canceled for Morgan's STS-118 flight, with her inscribing the top cover as a Space Flight Participant (SFP) and the bottom cover is cacheted with the STS-118 crew patch/emblem cachet (Of note, the Teacher-in-Space related cover is affixed with an appropriate "Public Education" commemorative stamp).

Mrs. Morgan retired from NASA in 2008 and is the Distinguished Educator in Residence at Boise State University. She was the first teacher (by original career) to go into space.

posted 11-25-2025 09:59 AM               

And for those interested in Space Shuttle astronaut autographs, the sheet above signed by Barbara Morgan also contains autographs of several other astronauts of note, including two with tragic fates.

Of the 31 astronauts from the Class of 1998, two didn't fly in space. Patricia Hilliard Robertson died as the result of a private plane crash while serving as an instructor, and Neil Woodward resigned before flying.

Alan Poindexter, who flew on two flights, later died tragically in a ski boat accident. International astronaut, Bjarni Tryggvason, flew on a Shuttle flight before being selected in the 1998 class, but didn't fly again.