January 16, 1998

Beth Schmid
Headquarters, Washington, DC
(Phone: 202/358-1760)

John Lawrence
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

Release: N98-6

NOTE TO EDITORS:

Media Availability With First Educator/Mission Specialist in Houston, Tuesday

NASA has selected Barbara Morgan, an elementary school teacher from McCall, ID, to join the next astronaut candidate class as a mission specialist, and she has accepted. Morgan will be available for media questions at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, on Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 1 p.m. CST.

In a decision that re-emphasizes the importance of NASA's strong commitment to education and its unique position to advance the Nation's goals to improve science, mathematics, and technology education, the Agency has determined that it is appropriate to include educator mission specialists in the astronaut corps.

In addition to meeting the astronaut selection requirements, mission specialists with education and teaching backgrounds in science, mathematics and technology will be selected and trained in the astronaut corps. These mission specialists will carry out educational programs in addition to their other assigned flight duties.

The media availability will be broadcast on NASA Television with two-way question and answer capability for reporters at participating NASA centers.

NASA Television is carried on GE-2, Transponder 9C, 85 degrees West longitude, vertical polarization, with a frequency of 3880 Mhz, and audio of 6.8 Mhz.

text-only version of this release