Astronaut-teacher Barbara R. Morgan, who flew on Space Shuttle Endeavour last year and earlier was the backup to astronaut-teacher Christa McAuliffe, is leaving NASA to return to teaching.

Also, astronaut James Reilly has left NASA to accept a position in the private sector.

McAuliffe was one of seven crew members on Space Shuttle Challenger who died when O-rings on solid rocket boosters failed in freakishly frigid Florida weather on Jan. 28, 1986.

Morgan continued her dual careers as an astronaut and teacher, and finally got to fly on a shuttle for the first time last August.

She will leave NASA this August to become an educator at Idaho’s Boise State University.

As the first NASA educator-astronaut, Morgan logged more than 305 hours in space aboard shuttle Endeavour on the STS-118 Mission to the International Space Station.

She operated the shuttle and station robotic arms to install hardware, inspect the orbiter and support spacewalks.

Morgan also served as loadmaster for the transfer of supplies between the shuttle and station, taught lessons from space to schoolchildren on Earth and served on the flight deck during re-entry and landing.

"Barbara has served NASA and the Astronaut Office with distinction over the course of her career," Astronaut Office chief Steve Lindsey said. "From the Teacher in Space Program to her current position as a fully qualified astronaut, she has set a superb example and been a consistent role model for both teachers and students. She will be missed."

Morgan was an elementary schoolteacher in McCall, Idaho, before being selected as McAuliffe’s backup. She returned to teaching after the accident, but later was selected to train as a mission specialist in 1998 and named to the STS-118 crew in 2002.

"It is really tough to leave NASA," Morgan said. "It is a great organization with great people doing great things. We’re going back to the moon and on to Mars. I’m especially proud that we have three other teachers who are astronauts, and there will be others in the future. I’m very excited to go to work for Boise State University. I like everything about it, and it’s going to be wonderful helping exploration by working full time for education."

Three other educator mission specialists, Richard Arnold, Joseph Acaba and Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, are training for future spaceflights. Arnold and Acaba are assigned to fly on the STS-119 space shuttle mission to the station in 2009.

Morgan will serve as Distinguished Educator in Residence at Boise State, providing vision and leadership to the state of Idaho on science, technology, engineering and math education.

Reilly flew on three space shuttle missions to two space stations.

"Jim Reilly performed superbly as an astronaut over the course of his career at NASA," Lindsey said. "His technical, operational and people skills contributed directly to the success of the space shuttle and International Space Station programs. He was a key leader in the Astronaut Office and will be missed."

Reilly’s spaceflight experience includes more than 853 hours in space. He has conducted five spacewalks, totaling more than 31 hours.

Selected as an astronaut in 1994, Reilly first flew in January 1998 aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in the STS-89 mission, the eighth shuttle mission to visit the Russian space station Mir. He next flew in 2001 on STS-104 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis, performing three spacewalks during that flight to install the joint airlock on the space station. Reilly again flew on Atlantis in 2007 on STS-117, performing two spacewalks for construction and repair of the space station.