Tonight, twenty-two years later, teacher / astronaut Barbara Morgan gets to fly.

You know, it hasn’t been a long time. [1985] was just yesterday. It still feels like just yesterday. As we go through training now, those memories still are there with me. For example, when we go flying in the T-38s (and we do that every week), it’s a wonderful, wonderful experience and it’s a great part of training as we fly those aircraft. I always remember the very first flight I had with Mike Smith and how he showed me what it’s like to do barrel rolls and how to fly lazy eights and how to fly in formation with another plane and how, at that time, I knew absolutely nothing about flying. And I’ll never forget after Mike showed me a few of these things and he said, “OK, Barb, it’s your turn, push the stick.” You can fly the jet from either the front cockpit or the rear cockpit. And, I said, “Which way?” And, he said, “Any way you want. It’s your plane. Take it.”*