YubaNet.com

July 19, 2007

NASA's Next Shuttle Launches California Into Space

By: NASA

California astronauts Tracy Caldwell and Barbara R. Morgan will make their first journey into orbit during space shuttle Endeavour's upcoming mission to the International Space Station. Endeavour is targeted to launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on Aug. 7.

Caldwell and Morgan are two of the seven astronauts who will add another girder-like truss segment to the expanding space station during an 11-day mission, designated STS-118.

Caldwell was born in Arcadia, Calif. She received her bachelor's degree in chemistry from the California State University at Fullerton and a doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of California at Davis. Caldwell was selected to the NASA astronaut corps in 1998. She has worked as a space station capsule communicator inside mission control and supported launch and landing operations at Kennedy.

Morgan was born in Fresno, Calif., where she attended Hoover High School. She continued her educational pursuits with a bachelor's degree in human biology from Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., and received her teaching credentials from the College of Notre Dame in Belmont, Calif. She began her association with NASA in 1985 when she was selected as the backup for the Teacher in Space Project, which was canceled following the Challenger accident. NASA selected Morgan as an educator astronaut in 1998.

Twenty-five other current astronauts are from California. The state also is the home of three NASA centers: Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Each plays a critical role in NASA's space, science, exploration and aeronautics programs.