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If you're not already aware of the story of Barbara Morgan, then be prepared for this to be all over the news in the next few months. She's tentatively planned to be the first teacher in space. You might ask didn't we already try that with Christa Mcauliffe and the Challenger Disaster. Yes... Yes we did, and the person who was the backup for Mcauliffe on that flight? Barbara Morgan.
Talk about the truly American story. One of a normal person thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Overcoming obstacles to in the end come out on top. It sounds like a Hollywood story, but it's real life.
Yes we all know about the Challenger Disaster. What alot of us didn't know is Barbara Morgan in the years following the disaster gave up teaching to pursue a career with NASA. Eventually Barbara would get a second chance. Months before the Columbia disaster; America's second shuttle disaster, NASA had prepared to send Barbara to space yet again. In a weird set of circumstances, her shuttle ended up burning up on re-entry over the western sky of the United States.
Considering the odds for a space shuttle disaster, and more precisely the odds at which Barbara Morgan would be directly associated with it, is somewhat ironic. But the story isn't finished yet. No, 22 years after she trained beside Christa Mcauliffe and the crew of the doomed Challenger, Barbara Morgan will once again attempt fate, possibly overcome the curse that's plagued her for more than a quarter of a century and blast off on August 7th 2007. This time the shuttle will be the Endeavor, or as she likes to correct people "Endeavour", spelled with a "U", and named after "Endeavour" a 18th century British Ship.
en·deav·or (n-dvr)
n.
1. A conscientious or concerted effort toward an end; an earnest attempt.
If she succeeds, then it's obvious that this may be one of the greatest American stories ever told. If she fails, then it's probably good that NASA is keeping things quiet. It's almost as if some sort of hubris hangs over our character's heads. It's Karma on a grand scale. An Iconic end to the age of the shuttle, as NASA approaches the frontier in a new space vehicle similar looking to the Apollo series rockets. Perhaps the greatest consequence of this teacher-now astronaut finally completing her dream, is that we can all gain our dreams back. Dreams, like back when NASA was in the imagination of every child, and space really was the "final frontier."
