Shuttle Endeavour puts teacher in orbit

What the astronauts will be doing
Midway through the flight, Morgan will speak with students in Idaho, where she taught elementary classes before moving to Houston in 1998 to train as a full-fledged astronaut, the first teacher to do so. If the mission is extended from 11 days to 14 days as planned, she’ll have a chance to answer questions from students in two other states.

But Morgan’s main responsibility in orbit will be to her commander, Navy Cmdr. Scott Kelly. She will help operate Endeavour’s robot arm and oversee the transfer of cargo from the shuttle to the station. The rest of the crew will be busy installing a huge square-shaped beam to the exterior of the station and replacing a broken gyroscope. Three and possibly four spacewalks are planned.

“There’s a lot of work, a lot of challenges in front of us, but I think this is a great way to start out,” NASA’s space operations chief, Bill Gerstenmaier, said after the shuttle reached orbit.

The space station is currently more than half finished. NASA plans to wrap up construction in 2010 when the shuttle program ends.

Endeavour’s astronauts also will use a 50-foot (15-meter) laser boom on the end of the robot arm to inspect the shuttle’s wings, nose and belly. The scan for damage from fuel-tank insulating foam and other debris from launch, or micrometeorites in space, has been standard procedure ever since Columbia’s catastrophic re-entry in 2003.

A preliminary check of launch video showed four or five small pieces of debris falling off the external fuel tank, but it occurred too late in the launch to pose any threat to the shuttle, NASA officials said.

Rash of embarrassments
NASA is hoping a successful flight will draw some attention away from the rash of embarrassments it has faced this year, most recently a NASA-commissioned medical panel’s report suggesting astronauts were intoxicated on launch day on at least two occasions.

Griffin said NASA is investigating the anonymous allegations. The space agency’s top safety official has gone back 10 years through every shuttle flight and can find no flight surgeon, astronaut or document hinting at launch-day drinking by a crew member, he said. No evidence has been found yet for astronaut drinking right before a Russian Soyuz flight, either, he said.

Slideshow   Cosmic Sightings Click to see images of Hubble's revival and other outer-space highlights from 2009. more photos

Griffin said he felt the charges were not credible, and questioned whether it was even possible for NASA not to know what was going on when the crew is so closely observed during the final hours before a flight.

"They’re on TV. We just watched them having breakfast,” Griffin said, referring to the Endeavour astronauts. “The charges seem uncredible, and it also seems uncredible that somebody would just make it up. That’s why it’s so puzzling, and that’s why it’s serious and that’s why we will investigate.”

This is Endeavour’s first flight since 2002. The shuttle underwent a massive overhaul and was outfitted with complete satellite navigation, improved main engine monitoring equipment, and a new system for transferring power from the station to the shuttle. The extra power will allow the shuttle to remain docked at the space station longer than ever before.

Besides Morgan and commander Kelly, the crew also includes Marine Lt. Col. Charles Hobaugh, the copilot; Rick Mastracchio, Tracy Caldwell, Air Force Col. Alvin Drew and Canadian physician Dave Williams.

Don't miss this on MSNBC.com Pass it on: Sons of infertile men may be next The eight biggest Olympic marketing debacles Reality show judges range from wise to wacko Cosmic Log: Is this your jetpack? Forget your inhibitions: World's sexiest islands

MORE FROM HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT

Human Spaceflight Section Front

Trio brings holiday cheer to space station Space station trio lands safely in Kazakhstan Astronauts land with families on their minds New dad-in-space: Focusing on shuttle job easy Plan for human mission to asteroid gains speed Countdown begins for NASA's uncertain future Space hotel says it's on schedule to open in 2012 Space clown comes back down to Earth Astronaut hopefuls don’t mind being ‘Chumps’ Top 10 antics in outer space Human Spaceflight Section Front   Add Human Spaceflight headlines to your news reader: