Barbara Morgan retiring from NASA

Saw this on both space.com and my local news: Barbara Morgan, the first educator
Astronaut, is retiring from NASA and hanging up her spacesuit to take a job at Boise State
University, working with the State of Idaho on math and science education. Best of luck
to her in the new job, though one could imagine that she wanted an ISS mission, but
the slots probably have already been filled for some time, and Orion won't be ready in time
for her to fly again.

Its really not surprising, I'm sure the writing was on the wall for
here before she launched. I'm glad she got to go however, Christa
would have been proud. Its hard at her age to continue with all the
PR crap she had to endure I'm sure. At some level you just have to
appreciate all the stupid crap reporter questions they receive all the
time and I'm sure she's leaving along with a lot of other people that
have been up 2 times but don't have hopes of going again because
of age.

On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:55:07 -0500, "Matt Wiser"
wrote:

Saw this on both space.com and my local news: Barbara Morgan, the first educator
Astronaut, is retiring from NASA and hanging up her spacesuit to take a job at Boise State
University, working with the State of Idaho on math and science education. Best of luck
to her in the new job, though one could imagine that she wanted an ISS mission, but
the slots probably have already been filled for some time, and Orion won't be ready in time
for her to fly again.

"J Waggoner" wrote in message
...
Its really not surprising, I'm sure the writing was on the wall for
here before she launched. I'm glad she got to go however, Christa
would have been proud. Its hard at her age to continue with all the
PR crap she had to endure I'm sure. At some level you just have to
appreciate all the stupid crap reporter questions they receive all the
time and I'm sure she's leaving along with a lot of other people that
have been up 2 times but don't have hopes of going again because
of age.

Age and lack of flight slots. With the shuttle retiring in 2010 (or shortly
after), there won't be as many flight opportunities until Orion flies. The
only manned vehicle flying NASA astronauts will be the Russian Soyuz.

And even after Orion starts flying, it's only going to have four seats.

In other words, now is a good time to retire from being a NASA (shuttle)
astronaut.

Jeff
--
A clever person solves a problem.
A wise person avoids it. -- Einstein

"Jeff Findley" wrote in message
...

"J Waggoner" wrote in message
...
Its really not surprising, I'm sure the writing was on the wall for
here before she launched. I'm glad she got to go however, Christa
would have been proud. Its hard at her age to continue with all the
PR crap she had to endure I'm sure. At some level you just have to
appreciate all the stupid crap reporter questions they receive all the
time and I'm sure she's leaving along with a lot of other people that
have been up 2 times but don't have hopes of going again because
of age.

Age and lack of flight slots. With the shuttle retiring in 2010 (or
shortly after), there won't be as many flight opportunities until Orion
flies. The only manned vehicle flying NASA astronauts will be the Russian
Soyuz.

And even after Orion starts flying, it's only going to have four seats.

Slight correction. 6 seats to ISS, 4 to the Moon.


On a side note, this past weekend while at the Folklife Festival at the
National Mall met a flight controller who had worked with Barbara Morgan.

He had a great deal of respect for her. He said it was not uncommon for her
to send back procedures he had written with corrections. And then he
described how in person she'd have her glasses on the end of her nose,
peering over them looking like the ultimate cliche of a teacher (in a good
way).

He had good things to say about her overall.



In other words, now is a good time to retire from being a NASA (shuttle)
astronaut.

Jeff
--
A clever person solves a problem.
A wise person avoids it. -- Einstein





--
Greg Moore
SQL Server DBA Consulting Remote and Onsite available!
Email: sql (at) greenms.com http://www.greenms.com/sqlserver.html

"Jeff Findley" wrote:

Anyone here think Pam Melroy, if she stays on after 2010, would have a shot at commanding
one of the Orion orbital test missions? After all, she'd be the first woman to command two
different types of spacecraft....And don't be surprised if NASA tries going after either USAF
Major Nichole Malachowski (1st Female Thunderbird) or Major Sammantha Weeks (second
female T-Bird). There will be astronauts with both Shuttle and Orion flights under their belt
when the time comes.