Flying Again

On November 13, 2003, the day before my birthday, Barbara Morgan will serve as Educator Astronaut on a mission to the International Space Station. Her flight will bring to fruition the project begun by Christa McCauliffe and the Challenger crew that ended so violently in 1986. I've heard it said that that moment is a defining one for our generation, like the Kennedy assassination for the generation before.

I was sitting in my third grade classroom at St. Joe's in Bowling Green, KY. Watching the constant replays of the explosion didn't make me want to stop being an astronaut. (Physics 101 took care of that.)

I wish I could put into better words how moved and excited I am that the project is actually happening. NASA in general and the Challenger in particular were just such a big deal to me growing up -- they drove me to Space Camp. Twice. Maybe I take Morgan's ordinary people mission as a ray of hope, however slim, that there's still a chance for me to fly too. Information Astronaut.