The display case houses a drawing of Christa McAuliffe teaching at Concord High School, a Lego art design of her NASA portrait and an old edition of the Concord Monitor.
Multiple magazines, biographies, cut-outs of old articles and even a custom-made Cabbage Patch doll give glimpses of McAuliffe’s inspiration.
Behind it all, a mirror reflects the entryway to the new exhibit at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center, which used to be called the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium.
“We wanted this space to be a continuation of her story,” said Education Coordinator Amanda Leith, who spent most of Tuesday hanging signs on the walls and placing pictures in the exhibit.
This wing of the interactive science museum is designed to bring Christa to life beyond her participation in the Teacher in Space program. Along one wall, each Challenger crew member is honored with a portrait and a biographical plaque. Another display case tells the story of the Discovery Center’s origins, dating back to its establishment as a planetarium in 1990, when New Hampshire was seeking ways to both honor and mourn one of its most loved residents.
“We really wanted to focus more on the items that people had either created or sent here after the disaster,” Leith said. “That’s really our main collection […] we wanted to be able to feel like they had some sort of connection to her through that, as well.”
For the first time since the Challenger tragedy in 1986, the trove of condolence letters, cards, photos and other memorabilia is on public display. These items were sent to Concord High School as the world sought ways to express its sorrow at the loss of the seven people aboard the space shuttle Challenger — among them, a teacher.
The planetarium became the steward of boxes upon boxes of artifacts from around the world and has preserved them in its private archive until now. The new exhibit coincides with an effort spearheaded by archivist Amber Woods to catalogue and digitize these materials, with the intent of facilitating research and providing insight into Christa’s far-reaching impacts.
Visitor Services Coordinator Kelly Thompson hopes the revamped space gives people of all ages a better glimpse into Christa.
“I’m looking forward to people knowing more details than just she was a teacher here, she got selected and then there was a tragedy,” she said. “There’s so much more to the story and so much more to her […] When the little elementary school child comes in, we can meet them with more than a dig through these archives. It’s just more accessible to everybody.”
Throughout the exhibit, colorful stripes line the walls, mimicking the colors found on NASA’s Teacher in Space logo. A world map decorates part of one area, ready to be colored in to represent the geographic origins of the different archival items.
“We want to, I think, show that this was an event and a person that impacted not just us locally but the country as a whole and the world as a whole,” said Tom McGee, who serves as the Discovery Center’s deputy director.
He said work on the exhibit has been taking place since the fall.
“This is just a tremendous opportunity for us to really revisit and review our mission and tell Christa’s story for future generations and be able to welcome folks in with something that they have never been able to see before and continue to inspire people,” he said.
The Discovery Center will welcome visitors to the new exhibit as part of its Challenger remembrance event series, Reach for the Stars. On Wednesday at 5 p.m., astronaut Ricky Arnold will conduct a demonstration of Christa’s lost lessons. At 6 p.m., the exhibit will be unveiled. At 6:30 p.m., the Concord Monitor will moderate a panel on Christa McAuliffe’s legacy, featuring Arnold, NHPBS Documentarian Kathleen Young, Discovery Center Archivist Amber Woods and Christa’s former student Kris Cornois Jacques. To purchase tickets, visit www.starhop.com/discover/reachforthestars.
To take a deeper look inside the archives, click here.
