Sculptor Benjamin Victor was in second grade when NASA’s Challenger exploded in 1986, killing the seven people onboard the space shuttle, including New Hampshire teacher Christa McAuliffe.

Selected for NASA’s Teacher in Space Project, McAuliffe garnered national attention prior to launch day. When the shuttle exploded after 73 seconds, the whole country mourned McAuliffe and the others killed. The mother of children who were six and nine at the time, McAuliffe posthumously received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

As the child and grandchild of teachers, Victor felt an affinity to McAuliffe and her story. Chosen in December to create the statue that will be placed on the State House lawn, Victor, a sculptor based in Boise, Idaho, has spent 2024 working tirelessly to bring McAuliffe to life in the form of an eight-foot bronze sculpture. In addition to being the youngest artist with a statue in the National Statuary Hall of the United States Capitol, he is also the only living sculptor with four statues displayed in the hall. 

“She was just a magnetic person that I don't think anybody who either knew her or heard her speak or saw her on TV could not love,” Victor said. “She just had that magnet to her that the whole nation fell in love with. So to get to do a sculpture of her, I couldn't be more inspired.”

McAuliffe will be the first woman with a statue at the New Hampshire State House. Her likeness will be transported to New Hampshire this week by a specialized moving van driving directly from Boise to Concord. Victor and his team expedited the creation process to get everything done in time for the Sept. 2 unveiling ceremony at the State House, planned for what would have been McAuliffe’s 76th birthday. 

He detailed his process and the many hours of work that went into creating such a detailed piece of art, adding that such a large statue would normally have taken a year to complete.

“I make the original out of clay, and then we use rubber plaster to make a mold of my clay sculpture,” Victor said. “Then we pour wax into a ceramic shell, and that's what is melted out, and that negative space for the wax was refilled with molten bronze. And then the bronze sections that are cast have to be welded together and chased. The welds have to be ground off and textured so that they all fit together perfectly and you don't see any of the welds.”

From there, the bronze replica of the clay statue gets chemically colored with patina before the statue is complete.

In crafting the design, Victor studied video footage, interviews, and documentaries about McAuliffe to make sure he captured her essence as true to life as possible.

“I've got Christa walking in motion, just like she did out onto the platform as she walked towards the shuttle,” Victor said. “And then I've got her smile. She's looking over and smiling, and it's not a stretch. I mean, you see that in all the videos of her and all the photographs, that big magnetic smile that she had. That glimmer in her eyes is what I really tried to capture.” 

The process of researching McAuliffe brought Victor closer with his own mother, who watched the same documentaries with him and called many times to discuss McAuliffe on the phone. 

“It felt like she was America's teacher and America's mother to me, because my mom was a teacher cut from the same cloth, very similar in her positivity and joy,” Victor said.

Diving deeper into McAuliffe’s story moved him throughout the sculpture journey and brought him close to McAuliffe’s story.

“It's really a tear-jerker in a way, but it's also a story of triumph,” Victor said. “You see everything her mother did after her passing to keep her legacy alive, and it's a very special feeling as an artist to think that I get to be a part of that, and I get to help keep her legacy alive as well.”

Victor looks forward to attending the ceremony but still has work to do first. Once the statue arrives in Concord next week, it needs to be installed on its granite pedestal, a process involving hanging the bronze sculpture with a crane, drilling into the pedestal, and threading rods into it to ensure stability.

McAuliffe’s name has been carved into granite to appear in raised lettering. The other three sides of the pedestal will feature bronze plaques with information about McAuliffe and her life in New Hampshire.

“The number one thing I take away from this project is it helps me become a better person and really understand the impact that each of us can have on the next generation,” Victor said.

He cited two McAuliffe quotes as sources of inspiration throughout his artistic process: “I touch the future, I teach,” and “Reach for the stars.”

“Those are things that go with me beyond the project and have affected me as a person and as an artist, to make sure I remember that every time I'm teaching my children or helping anyone of the next generation, that I'm really touching the future,” Victor said.

The statue’s unveiling ceremony will take place on Monday, Sept. 2 at 10 a.m. at the New Hampshire State House.

Rachel Wachman can be reached at rwachman@cmonitor.com.