Shuttle Crew Families Tell Gift to ‘Living Memorial’

WASHINGTON — Families of the Challenger crew announced Wednesday a $1-million grant that will enable them to create a “living memorial” to teach America’s youth about space.

June Scobee, widow of shuttle commander Francis R. (Dick) Scobee and chairman of the board of the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, accepted the first installment of the grant from the Gannett Foundation.

“They’re launching us, believe me,” Scobee said, referring to the foundation and its grant that brings the center’s fund-raising total to $2.1 million. The center is hoping to raise $50 million for the program.

Scobee was flanked by members of the families of the seven Challenger astronauts, including Steven McAuliffe, Marcia Jarvis, Cheryl McNair, Charles Resnik and Jane Smith.

The flagship center, located in Washington, would be a laboratory where students and teachers could conduct math and science lessons in an environment that simulates spaceflight. A regional “mission center” will be located in Houston.

The program has been developing space science and math lessons for teachers. Center officials hope to have students around the nation participate in lessons via satellite.

McAuliffe, whose wife, Sharon Christa McAuliffe, died in the Jan. 28, 1986, explosion that claimed the lives of the Challenger crew, said the center is the type of memorial the teacher would have appreciated.

“I know Christa would not take great pleasure in monuments that were cold steel and granite with beautiful poems,” McAuliffe said. “Christa would want a living memorial, especially something where children would benefit, something ongoing, practical, worthwhile.”

Scobee also announced the selection of David L. Winstead as president of the center.