The proposed Challenger Learning Center for northeast Alabama has landed a $2.4 million Congressionally Directed Spending award to help area students reach for the stars.

To be located in Rainbow City in Etowah County, the Challenger Learning Center will include a simulator that will serve as an immersive environment where students role-play as scientists, engineers, medical professionals and other STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) roles during a realistic space mission.

Rainbow City Mayor Joe Taylor, left, and Jason Getz, Challenger Center community relations director, stand at the site where the Challenger Learning Center will be built in Rainbow City. (Contributed)

The Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama serves as the fiscal sponsor for the project and will manage the funds received. The learning center will serve public and private school students in grades 5-8 across an eight-county area, including Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, DeKalb, Etowah, Marshall, St. Clair and Jefferson.

Construction for the learning center will begin this summer. It will feature four rooms that learners travel through during their mission to space.

Students will begin in the briefing room where they are assigned their roles. Half of the students then buckle into jump seats in the transport room to launch into the spacecraft where they conduct experiments and complete critical tasks.

In mission control, the other half of the students observe flight paths, conduct research, check on mission status and watch a live feed of their teammates.

Challenger Center was created in 1986 by the Challenger shuttle families to honor the crew of shuttle flight STS-51-L. There are 35 Challenger Learning Centers across 24 states and three countries. The future Challenger Learning Center in Rainbow City will be the only center in the state of Alabama.

Construction for the learning center will begin this summer. It will feature four rooms that learners travel through during their mission to space. (Contributed)

Construction for the learning center will begin this summer. It will feature four rooms that learners travel through during their mission to space. (Contributed)

Construction for the learning center will begin this summer. It will feature four rooms that learners travel through during their mission to space. (Contributed)

Construction for the learning center will begin this summer. It will feature four rooms that learners travel through during their mission to space. (Contributed)

Construction for the learning center will begin this summer. It will feature four rooms that learners travel through during their mission to space. (Contributed)

Barry Cherry, chairman of the Challenger Learning Center of Northeast Alabama Advisory Council, was pleased by the congressional award.

“Our team is very grateful to Congressman Robert Aderholt, U.S. House of Representatives, Alabama District 4, for his support and continuing efforts on behalf of bringing a Challenger Learning Center to northeast Alabama,” Cherry said.

A goal of the learning center is to increase the STEM-ready workforce that is critical to Alabama being competitive in a global economy.

Online donations to help support the future Challenger Learning Center in northeast Alabama can be made here, or donors can mail a check to the Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama (CFNEA), 1100 Quintard Ave., Suite 100, Anniston, Alabama 36201.

A version of this article was originally published by The Anniston Star.