License Plate, Florida, Challenger

This Florida state license plate is one of the commemorative vehicle tags created in 1987 in memoriam of the Space Shuttle Challenger and STS-51L crew lost during liftoff on January 28, 1986. This design, which debuted on January 1, 1987, less than a year after the disaster, was the first specialty tag offered in the United States. The extra $25 fee charged for the specialty plate benefitted the Astronaut Memorial Foundation. Revenue from the effort helped to fund the Center for Space Education.When Florida resident Richard Berg noticed during a visit to Washington, DC that the Museum did not have one of the specialty tags in the collection, he donated his personal license plate to the Museum in 1988.