About Us

Continuing the Challenger Mission: Keeping the Dream Alive

Kathie Scobee Fulgham
Daughter of Dick Scobee, Challenger Space Shuttle Commander

Most Houstonians remember what they were doing when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 10 years ago today. They will remember the frigid January wind contorting the smoky streamers from an explosion that seemed to make the whole world shudder. And some people will remember my dad, Dick Scobee, the commander of that flight, because he was killed in the accident.

I wish he could be remembered another way.

Piloting came early in Dick Scobee's life. Somewhere around the age of two, his parents bought him one of those toy metal prop planes he could ride in. He "flew" his Earth—bound plane so much that he wore the wheels off. But that didn't ground Daddy. Grandpa fashioned a swing out of that plane and suspended it from a backyard tree. Although he soared just a few inches from the ground, I'm sure Daddy felt like he was closer to the clouds.

He eventually grew out of that prop plane, but not his love for flying. Grandma says his bedroom ceiling was covered with models of airplanes Daddy put together. Right after high school, he joined the Air Force and became an airplane mechanic in San Antonio. It was there that he met my mom, June, on a church hay ride. He was so nervous about meeting her that he forgot his '50 Chevy didn't have reverse. She had to help him push the car out of the parking space. When they married, he was 19 and Mom was 16.

Two years later, I was born. Daddy repaired planes during the day and attended the local community college with Mom at night. A short time after that, the Air Force sent him to the University of Arizona to study aeronautical engineering. He began pilot training, flew cargo planes in Vietnam, became a test pilot, then an astronaut.

Although he had flown in space one time before the accident, he and Mom shared a very special interest in the Challenger mission—education. After helping Dad finish college, Mom began her formal education. She eventually earned a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University. She has taught students from kindergarten through graduate school.

Mom and Dad spent many hours talking about the education mission of the Challenger flight, complete with public school teacher/astronaut Christa McAuliffe. They hoped that teaching lessons from space would turn a lot of little eyes skyward with wonderment about the future, and perhaps a little more enthusiasm for learning.

In the long, empty days after the Challenger accident, the crew's families found a way to keep the education mission alive. They conceived the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, a network of interactive space science Learning Centers for teachers and children. More than a living memorial, the Challenger Learning Centers are launch pads for learning.

There are now 25 Challenger Learning Centers throughout North America. They reached 250,000 students and teachers in 1995 alone. By the end of 1996, some 30 Learning Centers will reach more than 300,000 in a single year. Our Challenger Learning Center at the Houston Museum of Natural Science is the prototype for all the others.

The task of Challenger Center is to bring imagination to education. There is a Mission Control, there is a Space Station. There are computer-based scenarios that fly students to the Moon, Mars, and engage Halley's Comet. And then there are the imaginations of 40 or so school children who are transformed into space explorers, capcoms, technicians, astronomers, and probe repair people.

Challenger Center is so much more than some kind of high-tech playground. When imagination and education are joined, children are inspired with a positive education experience. They are motivated to explore their potential. And they are fired up about learning science, mathematics, and technology.

Inspiration, motivation...getting fired up! That is what I want my Dad to be remembered for. I want him to be remembered for the way he lived, not for the way he died.

Most of the children who visit the Challenger Learning Centers today weren't even born when the accident happened. But they are the next generation of scientists, mathematicians, engineers, shining stars...a workforce of global proportions. They are the ones who keep the dream alive. As long as the dreams of our Challenger astronauts come true through the minds of our children, my Dad will be a hero to more people than just me.

January 28, 1996
Houston, Texas

Additional Information

For Challenger Center media inquiries, please contact Challenger Center via e-mail at info@challenger.org; phone at (888) 683-9740 or (703) 683-9740; or by completing the Feedback Form.