OLD ORCHARD BEACH – Students in Mike Aaskov’s space technology class spent 24 hours aboard a hand-built, mock-up space shuttle replete with two-way video, intercoms, computers and a bathroom.

Some of those students who learned from their space shuttle experiment last spring will learn from the real-life tragedy.

Aaskov, who discussed the tragedy with his students Monday at Old Orchard Beach High School, plans to turn NASA’s investigation into what went wrong into a learning opportunity in his class.

“The big thing we try to teach here is problem-solving. Obviously what happened over the weekend was a big problem,” Aaskov said.

Across Maine, teachers discussed the tragedy of the Columbia with their students Monday.

At Brunswick High School, one of 88 high schools nationwide to interact with Columbia’s astronauts, students were asked to think about the astronauts during the daily moment of silence.

Students planned to do something to convey their sympathy to the astronauts’ families, said science teacher Diane Bowen, whose EarthKam project linked students with the astronauts.

In Old Orchard Beach, Aaskov wore a space shuttle tie and had newspaper clippings on the wall, so students knew when they walked into the classroom that they would be discussing the tragedy.

What ensued was a wide-reaching discussion of the future of the space program, and whether manned space travel was necessary.

But Aaskov, who was one of two teachers and six students to spend 24 hours inside the space shuttle model last spring, left little doubt where he stood on the issue. “We’ll continue to explore. It’s a big setback right now. But we’ve got to venture out there and look at new things,” he said.

His students agreed, saying space travel was necessary for experiments that could lead to improvements on Earth and possibly to find another planet to colonize should Earth become uninhabitable because of pollution.

Brian Dancause, a senior who served at “mission control” during last year’s experiment, said robots are no substitutes for humans when it comes to experiencing smell or feel.

“No matter what, we should send humans up into space,” he said.

Aaskov and other teachers, along with some of their students, still dream of flying on the shuttle.

Teachers Ellen Holmes of Newburgh and Richard Glueck of Winterport have applied to NASA’s Educator Astronaut Program and hope they’ll be chosen to fly on a future space shuttle mission.

They were undeterred by the Columbia’s destruction Saturday morning at an altitude of 200,000 feet and a speed of 12,000 mph.

“It’s important that we not throw our hands up and say we failed,” said Holmes, a fourth-grade teacher at Fairmount School in Bangor. “What happened is a tragedy, but we can’t do that. It’s not in our spirit to do that.”

Glueck, who teaches at Orono Middle School, said danger is an inherent part of discovery. He asked what the world would be like today if flight exploration had ended in 1905 when Orville Wright crashed his plane.