Thursday, September 30, 2010

Out of this World!

June Scobee Rodgers’ Newest Book is Out of This World

Chattanooga, Tenn. -- June Scobee Rodgers is best known as the founding chairman of the Challenger Center for Space Science Education. But her newest venture is gaining attention in places like New York City, Hollywood and DragonCon in Atlanta.

They are the first stops on a speaking and book signing tour to introduce Moonbase Crisis, the first in a new series of “Star Challengers” science fiction adventures for young readers. Along with her co-authors the international bestselling authors, Rebecca Moesta and Kevin J. Anderson, June Scobee Rodgers is taking readers on a journey to the future and a real moon base in trouble, where they will learn skills to save the human race.

The next stop on her book-signing tour is her beloved Challenger Learning Center at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She will host a Micronauts session for Girls Inc. on Oct. 13, and present books to Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences 6th graders at 2 p.m. on Oct. 15.

“Chattanooga is my home and the Challenger Learning Center at UTC is the perfect place to launch Moonbase Crisis for our community’s adventurous children,” said Dr. Rodgers. “We fly missions to the moon and Mars every day at Challenger Centers. The book takes young imaginations one step closer to the stars.”

“The Star Challengers with their Commander Zota ‘boldly go into the future’ to bring great science fiction adventures to their readers,” said Star Trek’s Mr. Spock Leonard Nimoy. “What a wonderful way to expand young imaginations.”

The series of adventure stories are designed to spark student interest in learning, and careers in science, technology, engineering and math. The book signings are the first in a series of events celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Challenger Center. A Teachers Manual has been created to compliment the books for classroom use.

“The Star Challengers series takes the minds of young readers up into space, onto the moon and to the boundaries of their imaginations,” said Astronaut Neil Armstrong. “It’s the next best thing to being there.” More info at www.StarChallengers.com

Dr. Rodgers is the widow of Challenger Space Shuttle Commander Dick Scobee who perished in the 1986 Challenger accident. Since then she has been the driving force, along with other family members, in fostering new generations of students in science, technology, engineering and math. Now, with nearly 50 Learning Centers around the world, Challenger Center reaches 400,000 students and 40,000 educators each year through simulated space missions, educational programs and teacher workshops.


For more information, please visit http://www.challenger.org/starchallengers/