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30 years later: Education centers carry on Challenger's mission

In the weeks after the Challenger space shuttle exploded over the Atlantic Ocean on Jan. 28, 1986, June Scobee Rodgers was haunted by constant reminders of the tragedy.

News stations replayed the explosion again and again. Reporters were persistent in their questions about the mission and the safety of the shuttle. Countless ceremonies were held in memory of the seven crew members who lost their lives, including Scobee Rodgers' husband, Cmdr. Francis “Dick” Scobee.

The disaster was all everybody was talking about. Not that she could blame them. While Scobee Rodgers huddled close to her children and other Challenger families on the roof of a building in Florida, millions of Americans were watching on live television when the Challenger took off from the Kennedy Space Center and disintegrated 73 seconds later. Among the viewers were millions of schoolchildren who were expecting a lesson from the first teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe.

“This crew was representing space pioneers,” Scobee Rodgers said. “Christa McAuliffe was representing a civilian flying in space, and we were all riding on her shoulders along with her.”

Months later, the crew's families came together to create the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, a nonprofit that aims to live out the Challenger crew's educational mission.

“The world was focused on how they died,” Scobee Rodgers said.

“But we thought it was such a fantastic mission. We wanted to continue that mission for them.”

In August 1988, the organization opened its first Challenger Learning Center in Houston, offering space-themed simulations and hands-on learning experiences for students.

Now, exactly 30 years after the tragedy, more than 40 Challenger centers exist worldwide, including one in Woodstock that serves thousands of students from the suburbs and southern Wisconsin each year.

As a teacher and a college professor, Scobee Rodgers said she wanted to give kids the opportunity to experience science and technology in a real-world situation.

The centers, which are not open to the public but offer field trips and educational programs, allow students to fly their own space missions. Some work from the mission control center, while others act as astronauts in the space shuttle.

  The control room at the Challenger Learning Center in Woodstock is filled with fifth-grade students from James C. Bush Elementary School in Johnsburg during a space exercise Tuesday. Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com

“I think because of the hands-on learning - because of its strength - the (educational mission) has survived beautifully these 30 years,” said Scobee Rodgers, who attended the Woodstock location's opening in 2001.

In addition to the mission control center and space shuttle - both modeled after the Challenger mission - the Woodstock center also has museum-like Challenger displays and a star lab, which acts as a miniature planetarium, said Lead Flight Director Rebecca Dolmon.

  Caden Comstock, 11, communicates from the mission control center to his classmates in space. Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com

“We use the center as a vehicle for trying to get kids interested in science, technology, engineering and math,” she said.

More than that, Dolmon said, the center also honors the memory of the Challenger crew: Scobee, McAuliffe, pilot Michael Smith, payload specialist Gregory Jarvis, and mission specialists Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair and Ellison Onizuka.

“They were all pioneers, they were all heroes, and we want to recognize their contributions and also keep looking forward,” Dolmon said. “We don't want exploration to stop because there was a tragedy. We want it to keep happening.”

  James C. Bush Elementary School student Danica Feely, 10, controls part of the shuttle during a space simulation. Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com

Challenger Learning Centers nationwide are holding special ceremonies today. Events are set at Arlington National Cemetery and the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex to remember the crew and its mission.

“We've created something beautiful and worthwhile for the nation - in fact, for the world,” Scobee Rodgers said.

“It's time to share the joy of what has been accomplished as a legacy in their memory.”

Images: The Challenger disaster

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