[1] Morgan was born to Dr. and Mrs. Jerry Radding in 1951 and raised in Fresno, California, where she attended Herbert Hoover High School.

Following McAuliffe's death in the Challenger disaster, Morgan assumed the duties of Teacher in Space Designee.

Following the completion of two years of training and evaluation, she was assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Space Station Operations Branch.

She served in the Astronaut Office CAPCOM Branch, working in Mission Control as prime communicator with on-orbit crews.

During the disaster that destroyed Columbia in February 2003, she was aboard a training chase plane which was following the shuttle as it prepared to land.

[9] Prior to her flight on STS-118, NASA seemed to limit Morgan's exposure to the press, but she did a series of interviews shortly before the start of the mission about what the crew of STS-118 would be doing to help build the International Space Station,[10][11][12][13] commenting, "You know, there's a great sense of pride to be able to be involved in a human endeavor that takes us all a little bit farther.

"[14] Three weeks after Morgan's mission ended, she conducted her first space education assignment at Walt Disney World in Florida.

The "Wall of Honor" contains quotes from notable people, such as Neil Armstrong, John F. Kennedy, Charles Lindbergh, Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, Galileo, and Christa McAuliffe.

STS-118 landed successfully at Kennedy Space Center on August 21, a day ahead of schedule due to concerns about Hurricane Dean.

[20][21][22] On June 28, 2008, Morgan announced that she would leave NASA for a teaching job at Boise State University.

There she advises, leads and represents the university in policy development, advocacy and fund-raising in science, technology, engineering and math.