Challenger mission lives on in space learning centers

Challenger explodes January 28, 1986

January 28, 2000
Web posted at: 3:41 p.m. EST (2041 GMT)

(CNN) -- Flags are flying at half-staff at Kennedy Space Center, as NASA remembers two terrible events in the history of space exploration. Thursday was the 33rd anniversary of the Apollo 1 fire that killed astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee.

And Friday marks the 14th anniversary of the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, which killed all seven crew members: Dick Scobee, Michael Smith, Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Ronald McNair, Gregory Jarvis and school teacher Christa McAuliffe.

	VIDEO
CNN's Miles O'Brien reports on the legacy of the 1986 Space shuttle Challenger mission. Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

Memories of that fateful day remain painful for June Scobee Rogers, the widow of the Challenger commander. Yet from that tragedy arose a program that is inspiring a generation of young people to reach for the stars, a program that Rogers and others started to honor the fallen crew.

CNN Space Correspondent Miles O'Brien talks with Rogers and the next generation of space explorers.