Due to his love of flying, he was attracted to NASA and became dedicated to America's work in outer space. He conscientiously worked to help bring into being the "Citizens in Space" program. In 1985 Denver received the NASA Public Service Medal for "helping to increase awareness of space exploration by the peoples of the world", an award usually restricted to spaceflight engineers and designers. Also in 1985, he passed NASA's rigorous physical exam and was in line for a space flight, a finalist for the first citizen's trip on the Space Shuttle in 1986. After the Space Shuttle "Challenger" disaster with teacher Christa McAuliffe aboard, Denver dedicated his song "Flying for Me" to all astronauts, and continued to support NASA. He entered discussions with the Soviet space program about purchasing a flight aboard one of their rockets. The talks fell through after the price tag was rumored to be as high as $20 million.