Challenger Crew Families Receive Medals

NASA flight medals honoring the seven crew members who died in the Challenger explosion more than two years ago were given to their families Friday.

The presentations were made during a ceremony a day after hundreds of people gathered at a celebrity-packed tribute and fund-raiser for the Challenger Center for Space Education.

June Scobee, widow of Challenger commander Francis R. (Dick) Scobee, said it would have been a “tremendous moment” for the astronauts if they had lived to receive the flight medals, along with framed certificates acknowledging work in the space program.

“Their proudest moment was to be known as one of you (NASA),” Mrs. Scobee said. “We want to thank you.”

The Challenger crew members died when the shuttle exploded shortly after launch on Jan. 28, 1986.

The educational center, conceived and developed by family members of the crew, will offer teachers and students the opportunity to learn about space by participating in simulated space flights and missions at the flagship center in Washington, D.C., and at satellite learning centers around the country. About $2.5 million has been raised for the center.

Daniel C. Brandenstein, chief of the astronaut office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, said the medals are given to those who have “made significant contributions to the manned space program.”