Remember NASA’s Teacher in Space program, from over twenty years ago? In an effort to communicate the spaceflight experience in alternate ways—not to mention gain some positive press—NASA had decided to fly a teacher on a space shuttle mission. The effort indeed generated lots of media attention, as well as applications from over 11,000 teachers nationwide. By the time NASA chose Christa McAuliffe in mid-1985 to be the first teacher in space, the program was seen as a forerunner of a continuing program to fly people outside of the typical test pilot or scientist mold—such as journalists, artists, and poets—who,...