A crew member who was killed in the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster will be among those inducted into the Air & Space Hall of Fame Thursday.
Christa McAuliffe, a teacher who was aboard the Challenger, Hudson B. Drake, former president of Ryan Electronics and the Ryan Aeronautical Companies and San Diego aviation pioneer John J. Montgomery will be honored at the event, which begins at 5:30 p.m. at the San Diego Air & Space Museum, according to the museum.
The Hall of Fame in 1963 began honoring pilots, crew members, inventors, engineers, business leaders, designers and institutions. Some 200 people have been honored, including the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh and Harrison Ford.
Institutions being honored include the Atlas Rocket Program, located in San Diego, which provided the first intercontinental ballistic missile program in the U.S. and the country's space-launch vehicles; the Golden Eagles Flight Team, the decorated Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University flying team; and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the world's largest aerospace technical society, according to the museum.
