Gerty's interest in spaceflight and NASA began at Gatelot Elementary in Lake Ronkonkoma, New York. His fifth-grade teacher led his class through the investigation of the "Challenger" accident in 1986. Gerty's class learned not only about the causes of the accident, but what the space shuttle did and why humans traveled in space. To the ten-year-old Gerty, spaceflight seemed like a necessary and noble thing for humans to do, even if there were some risks.