• Planned to study Comet Halley in January 1986

• Explosion of this spacecraft during launch

• 73 seconds into flight due to a leak in one of the Solid Rocket Boosters which ignited the main liquid fuel tank

• 7 astronauts died

• Represented a variety of race, gender, background and religion

• Included a Navy officer and a teacher

• The crew of the shuttle mission was:– Francis Scobee, Michael

Smith, Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Ronald McNair, Gregory Jarvis, and Sharon Christa McAuliffe

• Originally funded by the families of the Challenger Crew Members

• Visitors role-play a flight scenario– You are

transformed into scientists and engineers who work in teams to problem solve dilemmas of space travel

– You are working like astronauts do on REAL MISSIONS

• Continue the mission of the Challenger Crew by resuming the study of Comet Halley

• The year: 2061– Comet Halley orbits the

sun every 76 years– As it passes near the

planets Earth and Mars we will study the comet from an Earth-orbiting Space Station

• Learn more about the beginning or our universe

• Comet’s orbital mechanics may help us learn more about principles of gravity

• Learn more about the Sun by studying its effects on comets

• Trip begins with transport of astronaut crew to Space Station

• Power up engines that send Space Station into long, elliptical orbit around Earth

• Half-way between the orbits of Earth and Mars we anticipate locating Comet Halley

• While searching for Comet Halley, the crew will construct a space probe that can be launched through the gaseous tails of the comet

• Be able to take pictures of the comet and collect materials for further analysis

• Half-way through mission: crew transfer– Students in Mission

Control (on left) will get on board the Space Station

– Students in the Space Station will go into Mission Control

• Hopefully achieve closest encounter with Comet Halley

• Send probe through the tails of the comet

• Goal: – To rendezvous with

the comet– Launch the probe into

its tail– Collect new data from

the probe’s instruments