Free Republic

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - When Endeavour lifts off, former schoolteacher Barbara Morgan will be seated on the lower deck in the middle, exactly where Christa McAuliffe sat 21 years ago. And she'll be flying aboard Endeavour, the space shuttle that was built to replace the Challenger. Morgan, who was McAuliffe's backup, is used to all the comparisons. In fact, she welcomes them. "I think the great thing about it is that people will be thinking about Challenger and thinking about all the hard work lots of folks over many years have done to continue their mission," Morgan said last month....

Today President Bush returned to the White House from Camp David where he and the First Lady spend the weekend and where he met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai Mrs. Bush Congratulates Barbara Morgan, Astronaut on Space Shuttle Endeavour and Former Teacher This morning, Mrs. Laura Bush called Barbara Morgan, an astronaut and former teacher who will travel to space for the first time on the flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station. Mrs. Bush expressed congratulations from one schoolteacher to another and noted that she and the President appreciate Ms. Morgan's commitment to America's space...