Getty This November 1985 file provided by NASA shows the crew of the doomed US space shuttle Challenger. Front row from left are: astronauts Mike Smith, Dick Scobee, Ron McNair, back row from left: Ellison Onizuka, school teacher Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, and Judith Resnik.
Francis Richard “Dick” Scobee was commanding the Space Shuttle Challenger when it exploded, killing him and everyone on board. Scobee was married to June (now June Scobee Rogers) and they had two children: Kathie Scobee Fulgham and Richard W. Scobee. Where are his wife and children today?
The Challenger explosion is the subject of Netflix’s new four-part documentary series Challenger: The Final Flight, exploring the stories around the tragedy of January 28, 1986.
June Scobee Rodgers Remarried & Is the Founding Chair of the Challenger Center
June Scobee married Don Rodgers in 1989, three years after her husband’s tragic death. When they married, he was a lieutenant general in the Army and commander of the Army Information Systems Command, UPI reported. They met at an Easter service at Arlington National Cemetery and were engaged during the Christmas holiday. Don Rodgers, a widower, has one son, Eric. They live in Chattanooga, Tennessee today and have nine grandchildren, according to her Amazon bio.
Today she’s the founding chair of the Challenger Center, according to her bio with the center. The Center continues the educational mission of the Challenger crew and operates centers across the U.S. and parts of the world, Texas A&M Today reported.
NetflixJune Scobee Rodgers in episode 2 of Challenger.
June Scobee Rodgers co-authored the Star Challengers science adventure books and wrote Silver Linings – My Life Before and After the Challenger 7. She’s been awarded the National Eagle Award, the Spirit of Volunteerism, the Alan Shepard Technology in Education Award, and more. She’s served as a teacher and university professor and consulted with numerous agencies. She has a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Leicester, England.
In August 2007, Barbara Morgan (who was Christa McAuliffe’s backup for the Challenger flight) flew on STS-118, an assembly mission for the International Space Station that launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. She told NASA in an interview: “We are an assembly mission, which means we’re going to go to the International Space Station, dock with it, and help complete its construction…” While on her mission, she spent 20 minutes doing a radio Q&A with young students, hosted by June Scobee Rodgers.
Richard Scobee, Dick Scobee’s Son, is Chief of the Air Force Reserve
Air Force
Today, Dick Scobee’s son Richard Scobee is Lt. Gen. Richard Scobee, Chief of the Air Force Reserve. He was promoted to lieutenant general in September 2018 and is also Commander of Air Force Reserve Command at Robins Air Force Base, where he supervises all Air Force Reserve units. He was commissioned in 1986 after graduating from the Air Force Academy — the same year that his father died. He has flown F-16s and has served domestically and overseas, including in Germany, South Korea, and Egypt. He deployed as Commander of the 506th Air Expeditionary Group in Iraq in 2008.
He led a military flyover during Super Bowl XXX for the Challenger’s 10th anniversary.
In 2019, he spoke with CNN about what happened to his dad. He said that after liftoff, he almost immediately knew that something was wrong.
Kathie Scobee Fulgham, Dick Scobee’s Daughter, Is a Public Relations Expert
Kathie Scobee Fulgham was 23 when her father died in the Challenger tragedy. Today, she’s on the board of directors for the Astronauts Memorial Foundation, according to her bio there. She’s also a board member for Crime Stoppers, the Hamilton County Department of Education Fund for Excellence, and the H*Art Gallery. She’s an advisory board member for the Challenger Center for Space Science Education and was named a Woman of Distinction in 2012.
According to her Facebook bio, she is also a small business owner of KSF Communications, a public relations agency, and the former public relations manager for the Tennessee Aquarium. She’s married to Scott Fulgham, a police officer.
She told People that if any of her four children wanted to be an astronaut, she would approve without any hesitation. “I will support my kids in anything they want to do, and I would be proud for them to go into space exploration,” she said.
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