Challenger Space Center

I packed in lots for the last week of summer.  We drove up to Peoria to check out the Challenger Space Center.  The Challenger has special significance for me in that I was a 6th grade student assigned to have the Teacher in Space in my classroom.  I remember doing lessons prior to the launch to prepare and I vividly remember sitting with my class in the school cafeteria watching the Challenger launch and then sadly explode.  It is a day in history I will always remember.  There is a huge mural of Christa McAuliffe at the Center which still left be a bit verklempt when I saw it.  The girls thought the Center was pretty cool and enjoyed the mock space launch.  They will get much more out of it when they are older.  

A tire from the space shuttle.