In the aftermath of the tragic loss of the space shuttle Columbia and its crew Feb. 1, NASA officials said their resurrection of a program to send teachers into space would continue—though they are reconsidering the program's time frame.

"It's part of NASA's future, and it will continue forward," NASA spokeswoman Sonja Alexander told the Dallas Morning News for a Feb. 3 story. "The program timetable is under review. It's too early to tell what will happen."

When reached by eSchool News, Alexander explained, "At this time we are still accepting applications at our web site. The April 30 application deadline is going under review, and more details will be [posted] on the web site once they become available."

The space agency had relaunched its educator-astronaut program Jan. 21 to recruit more teachers as astronauts. Designed to pique students' interest in science and math, the program was to use satellite video feeds and the internet to connect students on earth with teachers in space to explain the intricacies of space exploration.

Educators bring a unique set of skills that would enable them to communicate to students the challenging concepts associated with the study of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics aboard a space flight, NASA said in announcing the program.

Within the first week of its call for participation, the agency reportedly received more than 1,000 nominations. About 100 more came in on Feb. 1, Alexander said—the day Columbia disintegrated as it reentered the earth's atmosphere, killing all seven crew members.

The tragedy occurred nearly 17 years to the day after the space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff. The Challenger mission was the first time NASA tried to send a teacher into space.

"One of the things I'm going to say when I'm in space is what I'm going to say right now to all of you students and teachers," said educator-astronaut Barbara Morgan, 51, who was New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe's backup on that frigid, fateful morning of Jan. 28, 1986. "I'm going to say, 'Come on up. We want you to follow us.'"

Morgan's remarks came on Jan. 21, as NASA was relaunching its educator-astronaut program. Morgan—who is leading the agency's teacher recruitment efforts—quit her Idaho teaching job in 1998 to move to Houston and join NASA's astronaut corps, and she was scheduled to fly to the international space station in November aboard Columbia.

NASA had planned to choose three to six teachers for its next astronaut class, the Class of 2004, and launch at least one of them a year beginning in late 2005 or early 2006. The educator-astronauts would be eligible for multiple space shuttle flights, and even long stays aboard the international space station, performing the same experiments and operations as other astronauts.

The widows of Challenger's commander, Dick Scobee, and astronauts Ronald McNair and Gregory Jarvis were in the audience at Hardy Middle School in Washington, D.C., as NASA put out the call for more educator-astronauts.