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Challenger Center Year by Year

1986

January 28, 1986

With the nation's school children watching, what begins as a day of excitement turns to one of tragedy. The Challenger Space Shuttle and its crew of seven are lost in an explosion that occurs 73 seconds after liftoff. Later that evening, in an address to the nation, President Reagan says, "We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space."

March 8, 1986

June Scobee Rodgers, widow of Challenger Shuttle Commander Dick Scobee, hosts a meeting in her Houston home with family members of the STS-51-L crew. They resolve to create a living memorial to the Challenger crew.

March 24, 1986

The founding family members meet with a small advisory group of business, education, and space leaders to create a forerunner of the Challenger Center organization.

April 24, 1986

Challenger Center for Space Science Education is officially founded and incorporated.

May 1986 to May 1987

Former White House Aide James Rosebush becomes Challenger Center's first Executive Director. Offices are opened in donated space in Alexandria, Virginia. The founders add leaders in education, government, business, space, media, sports, and entertainment to their board.

September 23, 1986

A press conference is held in Washington, D.C. to announce the establishment of a private, not-for-profit, independent Challenger Center for Space Science Education as the only memorial fund-raising effort. It has the participation and endorsement of all seven founders and their families.

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1987

June 1987

An education summit is held at SunSpace Ranch near Tucson, Arizona. Near the site of the future Biosphere II artificial environment dome, an international team of experts from museums, universities, and space-related organizations meet to formulate Challenger Center's objectives and create a blueprint for achieving them.

The Teacher in Space Educational Foundation, established by the 113 finalists from NASA's Teacher in Space Program, merges with Challenger Center to create an experienced and diverse national faculty. The group provides guidance for future program development.

December 1987

The first mission simulation scenario is designed. In the mission, titled Rendezvous with Comet Halley™, a Space Station orbits between Earth and Mars. The Space Station crew, in teamwork with Mission Control, maneuvers toward Halley's Comet. Students work to launch a scientific probe into the comet to determine its chemical qualities.

Although major modifications have been made to the scenario over the intervening years, a comet mission is still offered at every Challenger Learning Center.

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1988

NASA agrees to work in partnership with Challenger Center by providing expertise, materials, and personnel.

A 10-year Science Education Strategic Plan is unveiled. Providing a roadmap for delivering space-related education programs to teachers and students across the nation, a list of longterm goals for Challenger Center is established. These objectives continue to guide the organization today.

• To increase student interest in, and enthusiasm for, the sciences, mathematics, and technology;
• To improve students' knowledge and problem-solving skills in these fields; and
• To teach students to work in teams and think critically.

The foundation of the strategic plan is an idea that will eventually become the Challenger Learning Center Network. The founders propose creating a "national network of educational facilities that will contain highly interactive simulations of space living and working environments, and a variety of innovative educational programs and products."

Johnson Space Center in Houston is the site of the first Challenger Center National Conference; the event reaches over 250 educators from across the nation.

The Challenger Learning Center program is officially announced at the Association of Science and Technology Centers convention in Boston. Over 100 applications to establish Challenger Learning Centers are received worldwide.

August 25, 1988

The first Challenger Learning Center opens at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

September 1988

The United States Congress establishes a $10 million Space, Science, and Technology Education Trust Fund; the fund yields a minimum of $1 million annually to Challenger Center for the organization's first 10 years. It has since been renewed into perpetuity.

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1989

Challenger Center receives the 1989 National Space Society's Space Pioneers Award.

A second Challenger Learning Center, the first owned and operated by a school system, is dedicated at the Howard B. Owens Science Center in Lanham, Maryland.

Education materials are designed for Return to the Moon™, the second Challenger Learning Center mission scenario.

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1990

Challenger Learning Centers open at the Museum of Science & Industry in Tampa, Florida; Kiser Middle School in Dayton, Ohio; and The Mathematics & Science Center in Richmond, Virginia.

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1991

Leveraging innovative technology in creative ways, Challenger Center hosts an interactive satellite teleconference. More than one million students register for Suited for Space. Participating classes also receive hands on activities to help them explore how a spacesuit functions as a mini-Earth environment.

Over 1,500 teachers receive professional development training with Touching the Future: Linking the Classroom with Space . The regional program, which is Challenger Center's first teacher workshop, receives a 98% success rating from participants.

The Discovery Museum in Bridgeport, Connecticut, opens the sixth Challenger Learning Center. By the end of the academic year, more than 90,000 students have flown a simulated space flight at one of the six Learning Centers nationwide.

The first International Learning Center opens in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

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1992

Challenger Center is awarded two landmark grants. The Department of Education's Eisenhower grant brings the Learning Center experience to the classroom through the creation of Mars City Alpha®. The National Science Foundation supports the development of an environmental-based Learning Center scenario called Encounter Earth™.

Lamar Alexander, then U.S. Secretary of Education, recognizes Challenger Center's Marsville: The Cosmic Village® classroom program as one of the most innovative projects for teaching mathematics and science in the United States.

Six Challenger Learning Centers join the network:

• San Diego, California
• Des Moines, Iowa
• Don Mills, Ontario, Canada
• Rochester, New York
• Charlotte, North Carolina
• Seattle, Washington

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1993

Classroom teachers select the classroom program Mars City Alpha for Learning Magazine's prestigious "Teachers' Choice Award."

Four Challenger Learning Centers join the network:

• Kapolei, Hawaii
• Kansas City, Missouri
• Needville, Texas
• Kalamazoo, Michigan

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1994

Five Challenger Learning Centers join the network:

• Washington, D.C.
• Framingham, Massachusetts
• Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• Paramus, New Jersey
• Brownsburg, Indiana

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1995

Three new Challenger Learning Centers open, bringing the total to 25 throughout North America:

• Carson, California
• Chattanooga, Tennessee
• Wheeling, West Virginia

Challenger Learning Center programs now reach more than 250,000 students and teachers in a single year.