Artist commissioned to design Christa McAuliffe memorial

Dec. 12—State officials have commissioned an artist to design a memorial to Christa McAuliffe to be placed on the State House lawn.

The Christa McAuliffe Memorial State House Commission chose Benjamin Victor, a sculptor from Idaho, Gov. Chris Sununu announced this week.

Victor is the youngest artist to have a sculpture in the United States Capitol National Statuary Hall, and the only living artist with three sculptures located there — Sarah Winnemucca, Dr. Norman Borlaug and Chief Standing Bear, according to information provided by state officials.

"We are grateful to have such a renowned artist working with the Memorial Commission as we pay tribute to the enduring and formidable legacy of Christa McAuliffe," said Sununu in a statement. "Victor is known throughout the artistic community for capturing the persona and character of the individuals his work pays tribute to. I have no doubt that, with the help of his vision, this Memorial will be a fitting tribute to Christa McAuliffe."

Victor is the 2018 recipient of the National Sculpture Society's "Alex J. Ettl Grant," awarded for outstanding work; placed first in 2018 for "The Angel" at the Museum of Modern European Art in Barcelona Spain as part of the Art Renewal Center International Salon; and was named Artist of the Decade by the California Kern County Arts Council in 2010.

Victor will visit New Hampshire this week and will meet with members of the commission, state officials said. A contract for Victor's services is scheduled to appear before the Executive Council at its Dec. 20 meeting.

Sununu signed Executive Order 2023-02 establishing the Christa McAuliffe State House Memorial Commission earlier this year.

Commission members will work to choose a location for the statue on the front-facing portion of the State House grounds. Once in place, the commission will be responsible for maintenance and upkeep.

McAuliffe was a social studies teacher at Concord High School who was selected out of more than 11,000 applicants for the 1984 Teacher in Space Project, becoming the first educator-astronaut.

McAuliffe, selected to kick off NASA's Teacher In Space project, had planned to perform experiments with fluids and illustrate Newton's laws of motion for students while in space.

Tragically, she never made it.

On Jan. 28, 1986, the shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds after lifting off from launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the result of a faulty booster seal.

The accident, broadcast live on television, claimed the lives of all seven crew members — McAuliffe, Dick Scobee, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Mike Smith and Ellison Onizuka.

In terms of inspiring students and teachers around the world, McAuliffe's mission was a success. Science centers and schools bearing her name sprung up across the country and awards and prizes are handed out in her honor.