Karl Eklund and Joan Simpson take the controls of a mock space shuttle. Karl Eklund gives tours while his wife, Betty, rings up purchases at the gift shop at the Challenger Learning Center of Arizona. The Eklunds and about 35 other volunteers will be gone all or part of the summer at a time when the space center will be booming with special activities.
Volunteers keep the center running.
Located next to Sunrise Mountain High School in Peoria, Challenger is modeled after NASA's Johnson Space Center and offers the sights, sounds and workings of a space station. Hundreds of school and public missions are scheduled throughout the year. The crush of visitors is expected to increase this fall when the center opens a Smithsonian Institution affiliate museum showcasing space-related items which are now in storage. Jane Wiley, a Surprise resident, was hired last month to help increase the center's volunteer pool. Currently, the center has 70 volunteers.