The Austin Planetarium is pleased to announce that our application to build a Challenger Learning Center in conjunction with the planetarium has been approved by the Challenger Center for Space Science Education.

Concept

Children at a Challenger Learning Center. Image courtesey challenger.org

The concept for Challenger Learning Centers evolved from the loss of Challenger 51-L, the "Teacher in Space" mission (for more info, please see www.challenger.org).

These Centers provide hands-on team role-playing experiences for school field trips, and are also being used by service organizations and for corporate team-building. The environment consists of realistic mock-ups of of stations in Mission Control and the Space Station, with 8 teams (Communications, Navigation, Life Support, and more) whose members work together to accomplish their mission, and then switch roles at the midpoint of the program. With scenarios such as 'Rendezvous with a Comet’ and ‘Voyage to Mars,’ these programs educate, excite and inspire all who experience them.

Nationwide, the 53 Challenger Learning Centers reach over 500,000 students and 20,000 teachers per year. In Texas, there are currently four Centers, two in the Houston area, one in San Antonio and one in the Rio Grande Valley. In the Austin area, a Challenger Learning Center will be a great addition to our planetarium plans.

From the www.challenger.org site, for those who don't have a clear memory of the Challenger program:
"January 28, 1986, is a day in history that stands out as one of excitement, tragedy, and re-membrance. On that day, Challenger, 51-L, the "Teacher in Space" mission, launched into space carrying teacher Christa McAuliffe, Commander Dick Scobee, Pilot Mike Smith and astronauts Judy Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Greg Jarvis, and Ron McNair."