 There can be no doubt that education is the keystone to our future. Around the nation, educational partnerships are being established with the private sector to more fully impact the educational community. At the same time, educators have come to realize that the topic of space serves as a catalyst to inspire young people to take many different subjects that are most often science and mathematics. Young organizations use the topic of space as their central theme. For example, there's the Young Astronaut Foundation in Washington, D.C., the United States Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, and even the 4-H is incorporating the space theme into some of their educational programs. The most recent student, educator, space-related organization to come into being is the Challenger Center for Space Science Education. Through Challenger Center's endeavors, the aims and intentions of the Challenger 51L crew continues thanks to the efforts of the family members. Challenger Center is establishing a network of Challenger Learning Centers throughout the United States. Chuck Resnick, one of the founding family members, tells us about the origin of the Challenger Center. The Challenger Center was an idea that came about from the families of the Challenger crew. After the Challenger accident, there were a number of people who were interested in helping us in any way they could. There was a tremendous outpouring of emotion and support from all over the country, and a lot of people wanted to continue the mission in some way. They wanted to show their support for the Challenger crew, and the families decided that the most appropriate way was to try to continue the educational portion of the mission because all of the astronauts were educators and teachers in their own way, including Krista. And so we came up with an idea of trying to give back to the country some of the support that they had shown us by creating an educational process that children all over the country could use. And that's how the idea of the Challenger Center was developed. The Challenger Center educational programs are built around simulations to generate excitement in the hard sciences as well as mathematics. The need for interest in these fields is very clear. There has been a steady decline in science and math learning, while at the same time technological advances are creating numerous jobs and related fields for which there is the potential that someday there will not be enough qualified individuals to fill all of the vacancies. The Challenger Learning Centers attempt to create an atmosphere that will inspire young people to want to learn. To tell us about some of the Challenger Learning Center accomplishments is Doug King, President of the Challenger Center for Space Science Education. I think the accomplishments already are an incredible tribute to the family members that founded this and the educators and board members that they have gathered together as a team. We had over 6,000 students go through the prototype facility down in Houston. We've had just the beginnings of student population coming through this facility here in Prince George's County. But more importantly, they've laid the groundwork for a national network of learning facilities that will reach 50,000 teachers and half a million students a year by 1992. The Challenger Learning Center is forming network. These centers simulate future space flights with a space station simulator in one room and mission control on Earth in another. These simulated space flights provide students and educators with hands-on experience with a variety of science, math, and problem-solving tasks which will vary depending on the mission the crew is on. Currently, there are two missions, Return to the Moon and Rendezvous with Comet Halle in 2061. Additional future mission scenarios are being planned. During their flight, the students must solve problems. Their solution depends upon cooperation and teamwork and the use of critical thinking skills. Once back at school, the students used the data that they collected during their flight to tie the mission together. The Challenger Center's first learning center was opened at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in August of 1988. Throughout the country, a number of Challenger Learning Centers are in the process of opening. This national network of learning facilities will be linked together by a flagship facility in Washington, D.C. That facility will provide teacher training and research and development and an opportunity to link the mission sites into national and even international simulations. The ultimate goal of the Challenger Center is to be a network that is certainly nationwide and perhaps worldwide as far as facilities for children and teachers to utilize. Not only that, there will be curriculum that can be disseminated throughout all of the schools, again in the United States and perhaps in other countries as well, so that even those children and teachers who cannot visit our facilities will still have some of the educational materials that have been developed through the Challenger Center in order to continue the interests that children have in areas of space, science, and other types of technology. A Challenger Learning Center is made up of a space station and mission control. In the space station, there are eight different modules to carry out the various tasks required to complete the mission. Students work in teams during the mission. Everyone who participates in the simulation is very important to the success of the mission. During each mission, the students will work in both mission control and the space station. There is the medical station. Here tasks are completed to determine the health of the crew. In the life support station, the space station's environment is monitored to ensure good air and water quality during the mission. In the isolation chamber, materials are handled outside of the space station through the use of robotics. At the biosphere station, teleoperations are used to operate robots in a greenhouse. These plants can be used as a source of food. Some tasks are completed in the glove box. Here students might study moon rocks or determine the amount of chlorophyll in the leaf of a plant. In the probe room, the space travelers assemble a probe that will be used to gather data about Comet Halley or the moon. The navigation team works to locate Comet Halley or to select the best landing site on the moon. SIMCOM and the space station and CAPCOM and mission control work together to ensure all messages are delivered and questions are answered. Mission control guides the space station through its flight by providing needed information to answer the crew's questions or concerns during the mission. In addition to Challenger Learning Centers, the Challenger Educational Programs includes video conferences, teacher workshops, curriculum materials, and some day a flagship facility in Washington, D.C. The Challenger Center is a continuation of the mission of the Challenger crew and it's a way of acknowledging the fact that they gave their lives for a worthy cause, that they were explorers, that they were educators, that they were all seeking to learn in their own way. And if through the facilities of the Challenger Center we can instill some of those same characteristics in children around the country, then I think it will be a worthwhile endeavor.