Francis R. Scobee was born on May 19, 1938. He died on January 28,1986. He had a wife and two children. He graduated from Auburn Senior High School. He received a Bachelor of  Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Arizona in 1965. He was graduated from the U.S. Air Force in 1965. He attended night school and earned two years of college credit.

Scobee enjoyed flying, oil painting, wood working, motorcycling, racquetball, jogging, and most outdoor sports.

Scobee was chosen as an astronaut by NASA in January 1978. In August 1979, he completed a one year training and evaluation period making him eligible for assignments as a pilot on future space shuttle flight crews. He first flew as a pilot of mission STS 41-C. He had always loved space even when he was a kid.

During his career he logged 7,000 hours of flying time in 45 types of aircraft. The total includes 168 hours in space. In 1977, he was in command of the Challenger on a successful mission in April, 1984.

Francis R Scobee was lost when the Challenger exploded. The Challenger had killed six astronauts and a high school teacher. Mrs. Mcauliffe, a high school teacher, from Concord New Hampshire  was the first citizen in space. Exactly 74 seconds after liftoff the Challenger exploded. Mr. Scobee was spacecraft commander on STS 51-L which was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida at 11:38 eastern time on January 28, 1986. When the Challenger exploded it rained pieces all over the Atlantic Ocean for an hour. He was buried in section 46 in Arlington National Cemetery on what would have been his forty-seventh birthday. His grave is marked with a religious head stone. He flew with Captain Robert, Mr.Terry J. Heart, and Dr .G.P (Pinky) Nelson. The STS crew died on January 28, 1980 when the Challenger exploded after launch.

A presidential commission determined that an o-ring in the right rocket booster failed to contain the pressure of hot gasses pursued by by the burning rocket fuel ,causing the tank to fall from the booster's wall.
 

Credits:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/scobee.html
Picture: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/scobee.html
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/frscobee.htm
http://www.challenger.org/about/scobee.cfm