Challenger Learning Center Marks 29th Anniversary of Space Shuttle Loss

WHAT: On Wednesday, January 28, students from McCluer South-Berkeley High School will join the Challenger Learning Center in marking the 29th anniversary of the Challenger space shuttle accident.  January 28th is also NASA’s Day of Remembrance, honoring all of the astronauts who have lost their lives in the pursuit of human space exploration, including the crews of the Columbia and the Apollo 1 missions.

At 11:00 a.m. the students will launch seven Estes Viking Rockets from the McCluer South-Berkeley High School Football field. The seven rockets will represent each of the astronauts who were lost during the tragic events of January 28, 1986.

The rocket launch will be preceded by a reading of John Gillespie Magee, Jr.’s poem “High Flight”, which is inscribed on the Challenger Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

WHEN:
Wednesday, January 28
11-11:30 a.m.    

WHERE:
McCluer South-Berkeley High School
201 Brotherton Lane
Ferguson, MO  63135

About the Challenger Learning Center-St. Louis

The award-winning Challenger Learning Center, located at 205 Brotherton Road in Ferguson, Missouri offers simulated space mission and other science education programs for schools, scouts, corporations and the general public. The Challenger Learning Center-St. Louis is a partnership of the Ferguson-Florissant School District, Saint Louis Science Center and Cooperating School Districts. The Center is part of the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, an international not-for-profit education organization founded in April 1986 by the families of the astronauts tragically lost during the Challenger space shuttle mission.

About the Ferguson-Florissant School District

The Ferguson-Florissant School District, located in suburban St. Louis, serves more than 11,000 students from preschool through 12th grade with an excellent comprehensive educational program.  Fully accredited by the state of Missouri, the Ferguson-Florissant School District operates 17 elementary schools, three middle schools, three A+ and NCA-CASIaccredited high schools and an alternative school.  In addition, the District includes a nationally-recognized early education program, the award-winning Challenger Learning Center space education facility and the Little Creek Nature Area, a 97-acre nature preserve which offers experiential learning opportunities for students in science, biology, ecology and related areas of study.