McAuliffe statue unveiled at Concord State House grounds in day of history, emotion and inspiration

Six-year-old Ollie Tyrrell knows all about Christa McAuliffe. He hopes to be an astronaut someday and frequently visits the planetarium at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord.

When his mom, Danielle Vincent, heard a statue of McAuliffe, the widely beloved Concord teacher who died on the Challenger space shuttle 38 years ago, would be unveiled at the State House grounds, she knew she had to take him along. Tyrrell and his siblings were decked out in NASA spacesuit costumes as they waited on a picnic blanket near the statue.

They weren’t alone. About 500 people gathered in Concord on Monday to see McAuliffe’s likeness unveiled on what would’ve been her 76th birthday. Now, she’s memorialized on the New Hampshire State House lawn – the first woman to ever receive the honor.

McAuliffe taught social studies at Concord High School and was the first citizen to go into space. She died alongside six others in the Challenger when it exploded on Jan. 28, 1986, just 73 seconds after takeoff. Before the launch, McAuliffe’s presence on the shuttle had drawn excitement across the nation – many who attended the unveiling said they remember exactly where they were when they saw the tragedy live on TV. She was survived by her husband, Steven McAuliffe, and her two children, Scott and Caroline, who were 9 and 6 years old at the time.

Created by sculptor Benjamin Victor, the 8-foot-tall bronze statue depicts McAuliffe in motion, walking like she did aboard the platform to the shuttle. She’s smiling and dressed in her spacesuit. The statue is placed on a granite pedestal, with her name in raised letters and informational plaques.

On one side is her motto: “I touch the future; I teach.”

Victor, like many people, remembers where he was when the Challenger exploded. Then a young student, his teachers wheeled the big television into his classroom to watch the takeoff. He didn’t truly understand what had happened until it was explained to him.

“There’s a silver lining in all of this, and that’s what we’re here to celebrate today. That is that her lesson is continually taught,” Victor said. “That lesson of inspiration hasn’t been lost in the disaster, and her memory will go on forever.”

Gov. Chris Sununu was in fourth grade when McAuliffe was selected for NASA’s Teacher in Space Project. As he saw her on television, training for a year to go on the Challenger and teach the first class in space, Sununu recalled realizing that as a Granite Stater and a teacher, she was “one of us.”

“She was just larger than life,” Sununu said, “but she was just down the road.”

He established the Christa McAuliffe State House Memorial Commission via an executive order last February. Now, when kids come to tour the Capitol, Sununu said, they’ll be able to walk right up and see Concord’s “hero teacher.”

Steven, Christa’s husband and a judge for the New Hampshire District Court who now lives in New London, described his wife as an amazing teacher and a happy person with a contagious laugh. He remembers her helping students outside the classroom, too – she housed students sometimes if things were bad for them at home. One day, Steven mentioned the potential liability that could incur.

Her response? “So sue me.”

Christa was “thrilled” when she got selected for the NASA program, he said, but the celebrity that came with it never changed her. She always viewed herself as a regular person who’d been given an incredible opportunity.

“That opportunity, of course, included training for and flying in the space shuttle, which she was over the moon about,” Steven said. “But, there was another part of this opportunity that meant far more to her – the opportunity to represent her fellow teachers, to play an effective national role in focusing the public’s attention on and fostering public appreciation for the critical role that teachers play, not only in educating our children but also in teaching them to be honorable, ethical and informed citizens.”

Kristin Jacques, a student of Christa’s, now teaches fifth grade in Hopkinton. She remembers Christa greeting students at her classroom door every day and said she didn’t just lecture students – she engaged with them. During the year leading up to takeoff, Christa took a sabbatical to train for the mission but returned every now and then to Concord High School to tell them all about her travels, training and experiences. She still wrote college recommendations and did other things for her students during her time away, Jacques said.

“She didn’t just teach us about the world. She taught us how to be part of it,” Jacques said. “Thank you, Mrs. McAuliffe, for all you gave us. Your legacy will live on, not just in bronze, but in the countless lives that you touched.”

If anything, Monday’s crowd was a testament to that.

Terri Peick, 65, teaches at Merrimack Valley High School. In 1986, she was teaching in Oregon during the Challenger mission and remembers exactly where she was standing when the explosion happened. 

“To have to go back afterward and explain to [the students] what they just saw … it was intense,” Peick said. 

She’s also been to Christa’s grave site in Calvary Cemetery just off North State Street. As a teacher, a mother of a NASA employee, and a Concord resident since 1988, Peick said she feels a strong connection to Christa.

“I just had a feeling I had to be there,” she said.

Rebecca Smith, 51, is new to Concord. She loves spending time downtown and engaging in her new community, so she was excited when she heard about the unveiling. She also said she remembers “vividly” where she was when the Challenger exploded – she was about 13 at the time, and teachers had wheeled the television into her classroom to watch the shuttle ascend into space.

“Everyone was crying,” Smith said. “I remember like it was yesterday.”

Another Concord High School employee, Paula Demers, grew up in Hopkinton. She recalled meeting Christa once when the astronaut-in-training dropped off her daughter, Caroline, at a summer camp where Demers was working. Caroline was shy, Demers said, so Christa introduced them. 

“Caroline thinks you look nice,” Demers remembers Christa saying. “Would you like to talk to her?”

As Demers did, Christa backed away, waving goodbye. Demers said Christa also brought astronaut ice cream and taught the kids at camp all about what it was like to train to go into space.

A current student at Maple Street School in Hopkinton, Nathaniel Dunlap, won an essay contest commemorating Christa and read his paper to the crowd. He looks up to Christa, he said, because she was an inspiring educator and seized new opportunities.

“She achieved what was thought impossible,” Dunlap said. “She has motivated me to look out for all opportunities and take them. If life looks like it’s going one way or another, keep an eye out so that change is still possible. It has inspired me to try and be the best I can be as a person.”

Charlotte Matherly is the statehouse reporter for the Concord Monitor and Monadnock Ledger-Transcript in partnership with Report for America. Follow her on X at @charmatherly, or send her an email at cmatherly@cmonitor.com.