---
title: "Teacher in Space Project"
chunk: 2/2
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teacher_in_Space_Project"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:21:53.570409+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

== Teacher in Space Education Foundation ==
The Teacher in Space Education Foundation was established by the 114 teacher nominees on January 26, 1986, with the goal of supporting public education, particularly in space-science-related topics. McAuliffe was named the foundation's honorary president, Morgan its vice president, and the other eight finalists its board of directors. After the disaster, the foundation merged with a similar organization founded by the families of the seven astronauts to create the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, which operates dozens of Challenger Learning Centers across America and supports educational programs.

== Private program ==
In the early 21st century, the Teacher in Space project was revived in the private sector. The development of reusable, suborbital launch vehicles by commercial companies makes it possible for nonprofit groups to contemplate sending large numbers of teachers into space. The new Teachers in Space program began in 2005. In March 2005, Teacher in Space candidate Pam Leestma, a second-grade teacher and cousin of Space Shuttle astronaut David Leestma, completed a training flight aboard a MiG-21 operated by X-Rocket, LLC.
Armadillo Aerospace, Masten Space Systems, PlanetSpace, Rocketplane Limited, Inc., and XCOR Aerospace pledged flights to the new Teachers in Space project. Advisors to the new Teachers in Space project include SpaceShipOne builder and Ansari X-Prize winner Burt Rutan, X-Prize founder Peter Diamandis, Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and private astronaut and X-Prize sponsor Anousheh Ansari.
The United States Rocket Academy partnered with the SFF in 2006, and worked to draft rules for a "pathfinder" competition to select the first Teachers in Space. The rules were announced at the Wirefly X PRIZE Cup Competition held at Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo, New Mexico in October 2007. Applications were accepted until November 4, 2008. On July 20, 2009, Teachers in Space announced its first group of "Pathfinders": astronaut teacher candidates.
On June 11, 2013, Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University's new Commercial Space Operations degree program, the first of its kind in the world, announced they will sponsor the Teachers in Space summer workshops for the next five years, indicating their intent toward a continuing long term relationship as well as their sharing a vision to "...help students, teachers and organizers collaborate in bringing space education to every level, from K-12 to graduate programs."
In 2014, Program director Elizabeth Kennick incorporated the Teachers in Space project as an educational nonprofit in New York, spinning it off from the Space Frontier Foundation. Five original Pathfinders (James Kuhl, Rachael Manzer, Lanette Oliver, Chantelle Rose, and Michael Schmidt) remain with the program, also Vice President Joe Latrell and several teacher volunteers. Teachers in Space, Inc. has now flown two teacher/student designed experiments to International Space Station (ISS), launched and retrieved several high altitude balloons with data sensors, put teachers through astronaut training experiences including hypobaric chamber and centrifuge, and delivered weeklong professional development workshops for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) teachers in California, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, and Georgia.

== See also ==
Educator Astronaut Project
STS-118

== References ==

== External links ==
Ssep.ncesse.org
Spacesafetymagazine.com
Barbara Morgan-Astronaut, Teacher in Space, NEA Member
President Reagan's Remarks to the Finalists in the Teacher in Space Project (June 26, 1985)
NASA STI Teacher in Space presentation