OUR HISTORY The Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company sponsors the Challenger Learning Center of Colorado. We are very grateful to all of our generous contributors. We also generate funding through grants and contracts. YOU can help support the Challenger Learning Center of Colorado, too! The initial contribution to our endowment fund made the news!

On January 28, 1986, the seven crew members of the Space Shuttle Challenger set out on a mission to broaden educational horizons and promote the advancement of scientific knowledge. In the aftermath of the Challenger accident, the crew’s family members resolved to create a living memorial to the Challenger crew: a space science education center where teachers and students could use state-of-the-art technology and space-life simulators to “explore space” as they apply mathematics, science and technology in a workplace of the future.

The result was the Challenger Learning Center concept, a national network of educational facilities containing highly interactive simulations of living and working environments in space. The Centers are focused on several critical long-term goals of national value and impact:

* Increasing student interest in and enthusiasm for the sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) studies;

* Improving knowledge and problem-solving skills; and

* Teaching participants to work in teams, use communication skills, and think critically.

 

There are now nearly 50 Challenger Learning Centers located in school districts, museums, science centers, and college campuses across North America and beyond.


With the same vision, mission and goals, the Colorado Consortium for Earth and Space Science Education (CCESSE) established the Challenger Learning Center of Colorado (CLCC). Opening its doors in 2002, the CLCC provides a first class space-based learning environment where schoolchildren, families, senior citizens, corporate teams and other community members “fly” simulated space missions. The CLCC features a Mission Control Center modeled after the one at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, a Transporter/Space Shuttle, and a Spacecraft/Space Station simulator where experiments are performed and probes are assembled and “launched” into the depths of outer space.

These simulated “out-of-this-world” experiences allow K-12 student, public, adult, and corporate “crews” to apply and learn additional skills in mathematics, science, technology, language, reading, communication, geography and teambuilding.

Annually, CLCC serves about 10,000 eager learners from the Rocky Mountain Region, surrounding states and across the country.