Outer space and lunar exploration is closer than ever before for students at Montgomery County Community College's Challenger Learning Center, who can now experience what it's like to be an astronaut or work in a space mission control center.
Opening Friday at the school’s Pottstown campus at 140 College Drive, the center is the first of its kind in Pennsylvania, simulating the work of astronauts and mission controllers. It focuses on science, technology, engineering and math experiential education for students in kindergarten through grade 12, with particular consideration to students in grades 5 through 8. At the center, lessons are conveyed through a two-hour immersive space mission simulation.
The simulation, which can accommodate up to 48 people at a time, gives participating students a sense of what it's like to blast off into low earth orbit. The 6,188-square-foot center is outfitted with space craft-like seats and screens with images displaying the solar system's stars and constellations. Audio components add to the effects, reverberating through the room when a simulation launch gets underway.
The mission control center replicates that of Kent, Washington-based aerospace company Blue Origin, which was founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos.
In the simulations, students are taken to a briefing room where they’re given their responsibilities and a rundown of the overall mission, which is to examine the possibility of sustaining life on the moon. The mission includes ensuring the crew’s safety, landing on the moon and launching a remotely operated vehicle. Students will experience both aspects of the mission, serving as astronauts and in the mission control, switching roles halfway through.
Kitted out in National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) uniforms, the program's coordinators guide students through the simulation.
Students move through different rooms outfitted as the mission control, the transport room and the spacecraft, learning about each component and how it relates to the mission. They also undertake interactive tasks such as examining rock samples, ensuring the health and safety of astronauts, life support measures, and launching a remotely operated vehicle.
The Montgomery County outpost is the 37th Challenger Learning Center, which are located throughout the U.S. as well as in Canada and South Korea. The centers were created to honor the memories of the astronauts aboard the Challenger space shuttle, which exploded in 1986 shortly after liftoff.
Construction on the space began in 2020, transforming the community college's former Sustainability and Innovation Hub, which was relocated to the school's Blue Bell campus.
The community college is partnering with the Pottstown School District, which will have access to the center and its simulation. The plan is to make programming accessible to students throughout Montgomery County and southeastern Pennsylvania.
When it fully gears up, the STEM-based immersive experience is expected to reach between 5,000 and 15,000 students in a given school year.
The community college has pledged $6 million over a decade to fund the initiative. NASA, along with the commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Montgomery County's economic development corporation, contributed more than $700,000 toward building the local program.
“One of the reasons this is anchored to Montgomery County Community College is … to provide educational pathways for all ages and stages, and as the community’s college, it’s an excellent way for us to help begin that journey for students where they find this actually situated on a college campus,” said Kevin Orangers, Montgomery County Community College’s director of educational engagement and innovation.
Along with Orangers, Annalise Giuliani and Anjuli Aker lead the program initiatives. Giuliani, the center's program manager, previously worked for NASA. Aker, the program coordinator, has been at Montgomery County Community College for several years.
Built into the simulations are common mission problems and it's the students' jobs to work together to solve them, added Orangers.
"A lot of this is difficult. It’s math, it’s engineering, it’s having the courage to take on things you may not have taken on before, but once you do that and you accept that challenge, it opens up the world for you,” he said.
Off-site learning is available through virtual and classroom-based experiences. Challenger Learning Center simulations cost $390 for a class of 10 to 33 students and $450 for a group of 33 to 48 students.
“Greater accessibility to STEM programming is critical to the continued economic prosperity of our community, which is why we’ve made considerable efforts to ensure this is an equitable opportunity for all students, including securing funding for under-resourced educational organizations to participate,” said Therol Dix, vice president of the community’s college’s educational partnerships and the Pottstown campus.
Orangers said he'd like to eventually offer additional programming such as team-building experiences for adults.
The goal with the center and the simulations is to not only build on STEM education, but also to introduce students to career opportunities related to the space industry, which is expected to be worth around $1 trillion by 2040, according to a 2022 report from Citigroup.
See photos of the new facility in the gallery above.
