File photo In this 2023 photo, Braelyn Beiter, left, a student at Corpus Christi School in Warwood, learns to maneuver a drone at the Challenger Learning Center at Wheeling University. Assisting her are Commander Michele Young and fellow student Ava DePriest.

While most of the excitement around Wednesday’s planned launch of the Artemis II spacecraft is centered at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, there’s some joy being felt for the first moon shot since 1972 in the Ohio Valley.

Jackie Shia, director of Wheeling’s Challenger Learning Center, is brimming with anticipation for the historic event.

“When you think about the technology we had back then, and what we have now, I mean, it’s just crazy that it’s taken this long to get back there,” she said.

The four-person crew is scheduled to launch at 6:24 p.m. Wednesday — there are several backup launch windows if inclement weather scrubs Wednesday’s plans — on a 10-day trip that will loop the ship around Earth and the moon. As much as new technology will bolster the astronauts’ journey, Shia said it will also allow those watching on Earth to enjoy an even more detailed view of the entire voyage.

“There’s so much more social media to get it out there to the masses, and to see what’s going on,” she said. “I think we’re really going to ignite students’ imagination about what spaceflight really is.”

The Challenger Center, on the campus of Wheeling University, offers several simulated space missions for students in grades 4-12. Among them is “Lunar Quest,” where participants launch a mission to the moon in search of a long-term habitat, land on the moon’s surface, and deploy a lunar rover for exploration.

Shia hopes Wednesday’s Artemis II mission is the first step toward a real touchdown on the moon’s surface to set up a lunar colony that can become a way station for even loftier goals — a mission to Mars.

“The next step is to get us out to Mars, which just blows my mind, even thinking about,” she said.

While Shia is excited, she also admits there are some nerves in the wait for launch.

“We know what can happen,” she said.

Her center was actually born from tragedy: the 1986 Challenger explosion that killed all seven crew members. Their families, rather than erect a plaque or a monument, wanted the late astronauts’ lasting contribution to be a living monument to their sacrifice, so the Challenger Learning Centers were born.

Shia said she and her group can use a launch like Wednesday’s as an example of bravery — that these crew members are pushing past their fears to be part of something huge. She said the fact that this launch comes during the 40th anniversary year of the Challenger explosion is not lost on her.

Shia hopes this mission will rekindle the wonder of spaceflight for area students and bring even more curious visitors to the center, possibly to its summer camps.

“We would love to see this get kids involved a little bit more, and thinking this is something pretty cool,” she said.