The California native began her teaching career in 1974 before being selected by NASA as the backup candidate for its Teacher in Space Program on 19 July 1985; after the space shuttle Challenger disaster, Morgan resumed teaching until she returned to NASA and was selected as a mission specialist and NASA’s first educator astronaut in January 1998. Morgan completed her first space flight in 2007 with the crew of space shuttle Endeavour (STS-118)—an assembly mission to the International Space Station—where she served as educator, loadmaster, shuttle and station robotic arm operator, and flight deck crewmember for entry and landing. Morgan retired as an astronaut in August 2008 to become the Distinguished Educator in Residence at Boise State University.