Did you know Huntsville has 11 space-inspired schools?

Huntsville is known as the Rocket City for a reason. Our culture and history are more intermingled with the space industry than any other city in America.

It should come as no surprise that many of our schools share the same name as the people and objects that left their mark on our understanding of the universe.

Read on to learn about the origins of the names of Huntsville’s space-inspired schools:

Space-inspired schools:

Shuttle Schools

sts065 s 047large — Space Shuttle Columbia begins its roll maneuver after clearing the fixed service structure (FSS) tower as it rises above Kennedy Space Center. (NASA)

The largest section of space-inspired schools in Huntsville are the Shuttle schools.

Many aspects of the shuttle program were based out of Huntsville, the design, testing and operation all being key contributions from our city.

Of the six shuttles that were developed by NASA (and flew) four of them share a name with local Huntsville city schools:

Columbia Elementary
Endeavor Elementary
Challenger Elementary
Discovery Middle
Challenger Middle
Columbia High

Apollo 1 Schools

S66 30236large — The prime crew of the first manned Apollo Space Flight. Left to right, are Edward H. White II, command module pilot; Virgil I. (Gus) Grissom, mission commander; and Roger B. Chaffee, lunar module pilot. (NASA)

Apollo 1 was planned to be the first flight of the Apollo Space Program, but never made it to launch.

On January 27, 1967, a cabin fire broke out during a launch rehearsal and killed all three of the primary crew members. The crew was given the title Apollo 1 by NASA in honor of their sacrifice.

In 1969, three schools in Huntsville were named in honor of the three astronauts who lost their lives in Apollo 1.

Grissom High School
- Named for Astronaut Virgil “Gus” Grissom
Chaffee Elementary School
- Named for Astronaut Roger B. Chaffee
Ed White Middle School (now closed)
- Named for Astronaut Ed White

Influential Astronaut schools

9265609large — Space Shuttle Endeavour onboard photo of Astronaut Mae Jemison working in Spacelab-J module. There is a mural of this photo in downtown Huntsville. (NASA)

There are two other schools in Huntsville named after influential astronauts:

Jemison High School
- Named after Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space and a North Alabama native.
- Her influence can be found all around Huntsville including a Downtown Huntsville Art Walk through Big Spring Park dedicated to her achievements.
Ronald E McNair Jr. High School
- Named in honor of the physicist and second African-American astronaut Ronald Erwin McNair.
- McNair was one of the 7 souls who passed away during the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster in 1986.
- Ronald E McNair Jr. High was created from the consolidation of the former Davis Hills Middle and Ed White Middle and shares a campus with Mae Jemison High.

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