BANGOR – After sending thousands of students into space during the past year, the Challenger Learning Center of Maine now wants residents of all ages to experience what it’s like to be an astronaut.

“We’re working to bring the Challenger Learning Center into the public eye,” director Annette Brickley said this week. “Our goal next year is for people to say, ‘Hey, I’ve heard great things about you,’ instead of, ‘I didn’t even know you were out here.'”

The center, which opened in March 2004 at the corner of Maine and Cleveland avenues on the former Dow Air Force Base in Bangor, initially was aimed at middle school pupils who participated in simulated space missions, assuming the roles of astronauts, engineers and navigators and working as teams in mission control and aboard a space station.

Brickley said approximately 3,000 students from 75 schools in eastern, central and northern Maine have participated in more than 120 simulated missions in which they were required to assemble and deploy a probe designed to pass through the tail of a comet.

“Every school that has come is eager to return and almost all the schools have returned or plan to return,” she said.

But the adults who accompanied their children to the center said, “I want to do it, too,” Brickley said.

So the plan now is to include anyone over the age of 10 in public missions held one evening a month.

“We want to convince people to come do this instead of going to a movie,” she said.

Bill Buckley, president of the 10-member board of directors, said the center’s first year has seen “a tremendous increase in the awareness of the activities and the purpose of the learning center.”

After beginning missions in March, the center held a grand opening last June. Attendance slowed in the fall because schools were concerned about high gasoline prices and the possible financial repercussions from the so-called Palesky tax cap initiative, said Buckley.

But participation has since picked up and is “right on target.”

Now the goal is to expand the offerings. “We have found that we need to offer lots of programs for all ages,” he said.

This fall, for the first time, the center plans to offer a mission for high school earth science classes in which students work on teams as part of an emergency response squad repairing a satellite that sends environmental information back to Earth.

Also planned for fall is a mission for Senior College participants about Einstein’s publications. In addition, the center hopes to provide more corporate missions so offices can participate in team building activities.

Another goal is to contact more schools from the southern and western parts of the state to garner interest in the space missions, said Brickley, who hopes schools that have participated in a mission will spread the word.

“Teachers talk to teachers,” she said.

Although the center is using a well-developed, nationally based program, “there are certain needs and expectations of Maine teachers that we need to make this fit,” she said.

To that end, the center has adapted its curriculum to the Maine Learning Results and created local assessments that measure students’ knowledge of the academic standards.

Schools pay $600 for up to 32 students who spend about 21/2 hours on the mission. The fee includes teacher training and instructional materials.

“We’re working to convince schools that this isn’t just a field trip, but that it can be a part of their curriculum,” Brickley said.

To make it easier for Maine’s cash-strapped schools to participate in the space missions, the center is looking for companies and community groups to help subsidize the cost.

“Many schools are saying we’d love to come, but can’t afford it,” she said.

For schools that can’t make the trip, the center offers a “mini-mission” in which flight director Robin Kennedy travels to the school and provides a day of space-related activities such as building rockets, learning about craters and studying the Mars geology.

Depending upon the activities, a school could spend between $150 and $250 plus travel costs.

Community support for the center has been strong. MBNA has offered to pay for schools in communities where it has a call center. The Bangor Rotary and Bangor Kiwanis also have funded missions. And the Penquis Superintendents Association raised funds for the new high school program.

This summer, a capital campaign will be launched, aiming to raise $500,000 to pay off the debt and the expenses associated with the resource library, Buckley said.

The center has been evolving almost since it opened. It now includes a NASA educators resource center with professional development materials for science teachers and a lending library.

Two photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope are displayed in the lobby, and a “spinning chair” used by astronauts for training purposes is included in the space simulations.

Also offered are teacher workshops, a summer camp for students in grades 2-9, and, occasionally, space-related presentations for the public.

For more information, call 990-2900 or visit the center’s Web site at www.clcofme.org.