Teacher in Space Project facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Teacher in Space Project |
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Logo of the Teacher in Space Project
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| Duration | 1984–1990 |
| Goals | Spur student interest in mathematics, science, and space exploration |
| Achieved | Launched Christa McAuliffe on STS-51-L; killed during launch in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. |
| Organizer | NASA |
| Related programs | Educator Astronaut Project Teachers in Space, Inc. |
The Teacher in Space Project (or TISP) was a special program started by NASA in 1984. It was announced by President Ronald Reagan. The main idea was to get students excited about math, science, and space. It also wanted to celebrate teachers.
Teachers chosen for the program would fly into space. They would be called Payload Specialists, which means they were not professional astronauts. After their trip, they would go back to their schools. There, they would share their amazing space adventure with their students.
NASA stopped the program in 1990. This happened after the first person chosen for the program, Christa McAuliffe, died. She was on the Space Shuttle Challenger when it had an accident during launch. This was on January 28, 1986, during mission STS-51-L.
In 1998, NASA started a new program called the Educator Astronaut Project. This new program asked teachers to become full-time astronauts. The first Educator Astronauts were picked in 2004.
Barbara Morgan was chosen as a Mission Specialist in 1998. Some people sometimes mistakenly call her an Educator Astronaut. But she became a Mission Specialist before the Educator Astronaut Project even began.
NASA's Teacher in Space Program
President Ronald Reagan announced the Teacher in Space Project on August 27, 1984. The teachers who flew were not part of NASA's regular astronaut team. They would fly as Payload Specialists. Then they would return to their classrooms after their space trip.
NASA sent out more than 40,000 applications to teachers who were interested. About 11,000 teachers filled out and sent back their applications. Each application included an idea for a lesson the teacher could teach from space while on the Space Shuttle.
NASA sorted the applications. Then they sent them to the education departments in each state. Each state then chose two teachers to move forward. These 114 teachers were told they were selected. They then met for more selection steps. Finally, ten finalists were chosen.
These ten finalists trained for a while. In 1985, NASA picked Christa McAuliffe to be the first teacher to go to space. Barbara Morgan was chosen as her backup. Christa McAuliffe was a high school social studies teacher from Concord, New Hampshire. She planned to teach two short lessons from the Space Shuttle. Each lesson would be about 15 minutes long.
Christa McAuliffe died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986. This happened during the STS-51-L mission. After the accident, President Reagan spoke to the country. He promised that the Teacher in Space program would continue. He said, "We'll continue our quest in space." He also said, "There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue."
However, NASA decided in 1990 that spaceflight was still too risky for civilian teachers. So, they ended the Teacher in Space project. Barbara Morgan went back to teaching in Idaho. Later, she became a Mission Specialist on another space mission, STS-118.
The Educator Astronaut Project
In January 1998, NASA started a new program. It replaced the Teacher in Space project with the Educator Astronaut Project. The old program trained teachers for five months as Payload Specialists. These teachers would then go back to their classrooms.
The new Educator Astronaut program was different. It asked selected teachers to stop their teaching jobs. They had to move to Houston. There, they would become full-time Mission Specialists, which means they would be professional NASA astronauts.
The first three Educator Astronauts were chosen in October 2004. They were Joseph Acaba, Richard Arnold, and Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger. Acaba and Arnold flew on mission STS-119 in March 2009. Metcalf-Lindenburger flew on mission STS-131 in April 2010.
Many sources, including some from NASA, sometimes incorrectly say that Barbara Morgan was the first Educator Astronaut. She flew on STS-118 in August 2007. However, she was actually chosen as a regular Mission Specialist in 1998. This was before the Educator Astronaut Project was even created.
Private Teacher in Space Programs
In the early 2000s, the idea of a Teacher in Space project came back. This time, it was started by private companies and groups. New reusable rockets made it possible for non-profit groups to think about sending many teachers into space. The new Teachers in Space program began in 2005.
In March 2005, a teacher named Pam Leestma completed a training flight. She was a second-grade teacher and a cousin of astronaut David Leestma. She flew on a MiG-21 jet. This flight was part of the new program.
Several companies promised to provide flights for the new Teachers in Space project. These companies included Armadillo Aerospace, Masten Space Systems, PlanetSpace, Rocketplane Limited, Inc., and XCOR Aerospace. Important people also advised the new project. These included SpaceShipOne builder Burt Rutan, X-Prize founder Peter Diamandis, Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and private astronaut Anousheh Ansari.
In 2006, the United States Rocket Academy joined with the Space Frontier Foundation (SFF). They worked to create rules for a competition. This competition would choose the first teachers for space. The rules were announced in October 2007 at the Wirefly X PRIZE Cup Competition. This event was held near Alamogordo, New Mexico. Teachers could apply until November 4, 2008. On July 20, 2009, Teachers in Space announced its first group of "Pathfinders." These were the first teacher astronaut candidates.
On June 11, 2013, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University announced something exciting. Their new Commercial Space Operations degree program would support the Teachers in Space summer workshops for five years. This showed they wanted a long-term partnership. They also shared the goal of helping students, teachers, and organizers work together. Their aim was to bring space education to all levels, from kindergarten to graduate school.
In 2014, the program director, Elizabeth Kennick, made the Teachers in Space project an official non-profit organization in New York. It became separate from the Space Frontier Foundation. Five of the original "Pathfinders" are still with the program. These are James Kuhl, Rachael Manzer, Lanette Oliver, Chantelle Rose, and Michael Schmidt. Vice President Joe Latrell and several teacher volunteers also help.
Teachers in Space, Inc. has now sent two experiments designed by teachers and students to the International Space Station (ISS). They have also launched and brought back several high-altitude balloons with sensors to collect data. They have given teachers astronaut training experiences, including hypobaric chamber and centrifuge training. They have also held week-long workshops for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) teachers. These workshops have taken place in California, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, and Georgia.
