San Antonio College: Scobee planetarium meets the Challenger

SAN ANTONIO – It’s all systems go at San Antonio College’s Scobee Education Center. The Scobee Education Center is a state-of-the-art 22,000-sf facility, combining the Scobee Planetarium with the world’s newest Challenger Learning Center.

The project, which broke ground in May 2012, included extensive remodeling and expansion of the Scobee Planetarium and Observatory, which has been a San Antonio College staple for more than 50 years.

The core of the Challenger Learning Center is an interactive computerized simulator with a Mission Control room and an orbiting Space Station. The facility gives students an opportunity to become astronauts and engineers through space simulation and role playing.

The center joins a network of more than 40 Challenger Learning Centers throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and South Korea.

SAC’s Scobee Education Center is named for Francis "Dick" Scobee, flight commander of the ill-fated Challenger mission. Scobee attended San Antonio College while stationed at Kelly Air Force Base in the early 1960s.