Shuttle Endeavour Carries Teacher into Space

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• MARCIA FRANKLIN, Special Correspondent:

  In July 1985, Vice President George Bush announced the selection of Barbara Morgan as the runner-up and Christa McAuliffe of New Hampshire as the first teacher in space.

• CHRISTA MCAULIFFE:

  It's not often that a teacher is at a loss for words. I know my students wouldn't think so.

• MARCIA FRANKLIN:

  From the beginning, though, it was Christa and Barbara. Morgan was involved in all of the training just in case McAuliffe couldn't make it to the launch.

• JOURNALIST:

  When you talk about the teacher who was actually ahead of you to be on the shuttle, you frequently refer to it as "we," as though there really were two of you going.

• BARBARA MORGAN, Astronaut-Teacher:

  Maybe that's just hopeful thinking, you know? We're good friends. And we get along well. And we're buddies. We're going through the training together. And I don't feel like a shadow. I feel every part, every bit as involved as Christa. So I guess that's why I keep saying "we."

• NASA RADIO:

  Challenger, go with throttle up.

• MARCIA FRANKLIN:

  But in 1986, Barb lost her partner, when Christa died in the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.

• NASA RADIO:

  Obviously a major malfunction.

• MARCIA FRANKLIN:

  After the accident, Morgan went right to her students.

• BARBARA MORGAN:

  Kids were watching to see, "What do adults do in a terrible, terrible situation?" And what I felt was really important for kids to see is that we figure out what's wrong, we fix it, and we move on.