CHILDREN SHOOT FOR THE MOON\New center honors shuttle Challenger.

Byline: Susan Pack Knight-Ridder Newspapers

The space shuttle hurtled toward the moon, and Justin Harris had an urgent message from mission control.

"I have a message for the life-support team," he said. "Please recheck the dis . . . dis . . . dissolved solids and . . ."

The 10-year-old Simi Valley resident soldiered on, gamely relaying detailed instructions about a TDS meter and an ALF camera. Finally, with the help of his dad, he completed the complicated message.

"Oh, gosh," he said with a sigh. "I wish I could read that space mission stuff."

On Saturday, Justin did more than read it. He lived it.

On the eve of the 10th anniversary of the Challenger space shuttle disaster, Justin and 33 other amateur astronauts went on a mock mission to the moon at the Challenger Learning Center at Cal State Dominguez Hills. The three-hour mission began with a moment of silence, but the mood was not mournful.

"This is what they would have wanted," said Bill Blischke, the center's education director. "It's really a celebration for us, a celebration of their lives."

So is the center itself, one of 25 throughout the United States. On Saturday, students joined in the first public mission offered by the privately financed center.

Children are faced with so many negative influences, he said, why not get them involved in something that's out of this world?

"It's either sex, dinosaurs or space," he said. "We've got space. We plant the seed for them to follow their dreams."