McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center to Honor Teacher Lost in Challenger Disaster
The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord is commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Challenger disaster with programs centered on honoring the life of Christa McAuliffe. McAuliffe was a Concord teacher…
(UNDATED FILE PHOTO) Teacher and space shuttle astronaut, Sharon Christa McAuliffe, is shown in an undated official portrait released by NASA. McAuliffe and the entire Space Shuttle Challenger crew were lost seventy three seconds after launch when a booster rocket failed. (Photo by NASA/Getty Images)
The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord is commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Challenger disaster with programs centered on honoring the life of Christa McAuliffe.
McAuliffe was a Concord teacher chosen for NASA's Teacher in Space Project. She was selected from more than 11,000 applicants in July 1985 to participate in the project and had planned to conduct two lessons live from space aboard the NASA spacecraft Challenger.
According to a NASA biography, McAuliffe was a payload specialist on STS 51-L, which launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 28, 1986. She was among the STS 51-L crew members who died when the Challenger exploded after launch.
To mark the anniversary of the Challenger disaster, the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center will host a screening of Christa, the New Hampshire PBS-produced documentary that originally aired last year. According to a New Hampshire Union Leader report, the film contains interviews with some of McAuliffe's former students and others who knew her. It also details the unveiling of a bronze statue on the New Hampshire State House lawn in September 2025, on what would have been her 76th birthday. McAuliffe is the first woman to be memorialized on the State House grounds.
The screenings will be held on the following days and times:
- Jan. 28 - Feb. 1: 3 p.m.
The screening is included with museum general admission ($14 for adults, with reduced cost for older adults, students, and children).
On Wednesday, Jan. 28, the center will open a new exhibit containing items from its archives. It features letters, artwork, and other artifacts from the Challenger era — items that have never been publicly exhibited before.
That afternoon, at 4 p.m., a panel discussion and Q&A will bring together astronaut Ricky Arnold and others to offer thoughts on McAuliffe's life, her legacy in education, and her impact on space exploration. Arnold, along with Joe Acaba, presented McAuliffe's original lessons aboard the International Space Station in 2018. The cost is $25 for adults, with a reduced fee for older adults, students, and children.
On Saturday, Jan. 31, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., living historian Judith Kalaora will present History at Play, a one-woman performance that brings McAuliffe's story to life, revealing the teacher behind the space mission. The cost is $24 for adults, with a reduced fee for older adults, students, and children.
More information about these programs is available on the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center website.
