Those programs are part of Onizuka's legacy, said Kimura, who described a sense of mystery he feels when he speaks to young people about space exploration.

"You don't know when you go out and talk to children," Kimura said. "I mean, the sea of faces, you really don't know which one is going to connect. I think that's what keeps a lot of us going, is that when you stand in front of a group of kids and share the excitement of space, the possibility is that you might be talking to the first human to walk on Mars."

Sometimes, something obviously clicks in a student. Lilinoi Grace, 24, grew up in Kealakekua and had her interest in space exploration piqued by visits over the years to the Onizuka Space Center, the museum at the Kona airport.

She was selected during high school for a program at NASA's International Space School in Houston, something that sealed her desire to become an astronaut herself.

Since then she has received her bachelor's degree in chemistry at Chaminade University, and is now at Central Missouri State University, preparing to enroll in a program to become a pharmacist, with an eye on someday working on medical research in space.

Grace said she remembered Onizuka's example over the years, a "Kona coffee boy" from her hometown who did great things.

"Coming from Hawai'i, that dream seemed so far out of reach, but he constantly inspired me because I know that he came from a similar background as I," she said. "I looked up to him."

Natasha Soriano, 20, had a somewhat similar experience. When she was 12, Soriano attended the Hawai'i Space Grant Consortium's Future Flight summer program, which features experiments, demonstrations and hands-on activities organized around the theme of space travel.

She went back again in the eighth grade. Soriano said she wasn't a stellar science student at Waiakea Intermediate School, but she was intrigued by chemistry experiments such as one where students harvested hydrogen and oxygen, and used the collected gas to launch little rockets.

Onizuka's story was featured in the Future Flight program as an example of how one person can "make a difference," she said. Soriano toyed with the idea of becoming an astronaut herself.

"Just because we're here in the middle of the ocean and isolated doesn't mean we can't contribute anything in history," she said. "I may never be an astronaut but I hope that one day I could inspire young children to raise their sights and have a solid career," especially in science.

"If I can do that, I think that's like following in the footsteps of Mr. Onizuka. I don't have to be a superstar in order to touch people."

She is now studying civil engineering at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, and credits Future Flight with nudging her into a science-related field.

Claude Onizuka, Ellison's younger brother, said Ellison's 1980 "Message to Future Generations" has also been widely circulated across the United States and in Japan.

Liane Kim, director of the Challenger Center Hawai'i at Barbers Point Elementary School, said part of that message is printed on a wall of the mission control room at the center, where students come to work in teams as they "fly" simulated space missions.

Above them, the wall reads in part: "Your vision is not limited by what your eye can see, but by what your mind can imagine. Many things that you take for granted were considered unrealistic dreams by previous generations. If you accept these past accomplishments as commonplace, then think of the new horizons that you can explore."

Claude Onizuka said reaching out to children and inspiring them was his brother's "primary mission" when he would return to Hawai'i.

"Like I tell a lot of people, we miss him, we lost him, but a lot of good has come out of the Challenger accident," said Claude Onizuka, 57, and a Kona resident. "The space program is much safer. Our country moved forward.

"Ellison's life was cut short, but in a lot of ways, with the short amount of time he had with us, he touched a lot of people."

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.