About Us

Testimony to the President's Commission on Moon, Mars, and Beyond

June Scobee Rodgers, Ph.D.
Founding Director, Challenger Center

"Imagine," a teacher says to her students. "Imagine you are an engineer, an astronaut, a scientist." Next, she gives them specific challenges. "Plot the correct navigation of a space probe so that it intercepts with a passing comet. Perform experiments to test the purity of water on a spacecraft bound for Mars."

She watches as they complete hands-on activities. As they work collaboratively with team members. As they problem-solve and find solutions. Her students no longer imagine they are scientists.

They have become scientists.

This amazing transformation is taking place every day at each of the 51 Challenger Learning Centers that are located in the United States, Canada, and England.

Now, I'd like to give you a brief look at what more than 500,000 students experience each year during their Challenger Learning Center mission simulations.

Broadband Clip · Medium Quality Clip · Dial-up Clip

It makes you wish you were 12 years old again, doesn't it?

In January, President Bush announced his bold initiative to venture farther into the new frontier of space, and to break free of the boundaries set by previous manned missions. He made a commitment to return to the Moon by 2020, then Mars, and on to worlds beyond. It is an ambitious and thrilling goal.

And, for me, and millions of students, it is a familiar one. For the past 17 years, students participating in a mission simulation at a Challenger Learning Center have been voyaging to Mars and returning to the Moon many, many times over. These national standards-based missions, always relevant, have now become very timely-again.

Today, perhaps even in our Learning Center here at the Kiser Middle School in Dayton, a young girl or boy may be flying a mission. Sometime in the near future, that student could become our planet's first representative to make the historic "giant leap for mankind" on Mars.

We, the family members who lost our loved ones in the Challenger tragedy, created Challenger Center as a living memorial. That was how we honored them as our husbands, fathers, mother, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters. But, it was essential that we also continue the education mission of STS-51-L—for that is how we would honor their legacy. Their mission continues every time a child is touched by a Challenger Center program—when that first spark of curiosity is ignited, when exploration and discovery follow, and possibilities literally extend through the universe.

A few years ago, I received a letter from a young woman named Christin Wentz. She wrote, "I participated in a Voyage to Mars mission simulation four years ago. It is still my favorite field trip. I think it was the beginning and basis of my love for space and science. I am now pursuing my high school diploma, and plan on going into some field related to space exploration, such as aerospace engineering. Your organization has had an amazing impact on my life."

The spark of curiosity.

Challenger Center is at the forefront of space science education for elementary and middle school students. Through our partnerships with NASA, the Smithsonian Institution, and Harvard University, our programs are found in major urban areas and rural communities with little access to science resources. Through our work in distance learning, children in even the most remote parts of Alaska are able to venture to distant planets. Students may leave from different locations, different backgrounds, and different circumstances; but they all arrive at the same place.

There is much work to be done to fulfill the President's vision. And I enthusiastically offer the resources of Challenger Center and its education programs as a critical first step to inspire and teach students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The potential to explore distant worlds represents an amazing opportunity for our nation. What only recently seemed the realm of science fiction now sounds like the prelude of history.

Two hundred years ago, President Jefferson commissioned Lewis and Clark to map a terrestrial frontier that was, in its time, remote and unknown. One hundred years ago, the Wright Brothers made their historic first flight at Kitty Hawk and took us farther into the frontier of knowledge and discovery. Today, we look to the future, to those not yet named who will take their place in a lineage of great American explorers.

And I can't help but think of two hundred years from today, and dream of a teacher standing in front of her students and saying to them, "Imagine. Imagine you are living back on Earth."

Let the exploration begin. Thank you.

March 3, 2004
Dayton, Ohio

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.