Established | 1990 |
---|---|
Location | Concord, New Hampshire |
Coordinates | 43°13′28″N71°31′59″W / 43.224583°N 71.533184°W |
Type | Science museum |
Collection size | Planetarium, replica Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle |
Visitors | 50,000 annually |
Director | Jeanne Gerulskis |
President | Paul A. Burkett, Esq. |
Curator | Dr. Kimberly Duncan |
Public transit access | Concord Area Transport |
Website | www |
The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center is a science museum located in Concord, New Hampshire, United States, next door to the NHTI campus. The museum is dedicated to Christa McAuliffe, the Concord High School social studies teacher selected by NASA out of over 11,000 applicants to be the first teacher in space, and Alan Shepard, the Derry, New Hampshire, native and Navy test pilot who became the first American in space and one of only twelve human beings to walk on the Moon. The Discovery Center's stated mission is to inspire new generations to explore space, through engaging, artful, and entertaining activities focused on astronomy, aviation, Earth and space science.
The 45,000-square-foot (4,200 m2) museum offers 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2) of interactive science and engineering exhibits, outdoor exhibits including a full-sized replica of a Mercury-Redstone rocket, a full-dome digital planetarium, an observatory, science store, café, portable digital planetarium and a full complement of on- and off-site educational programs.
The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center began as a stand-alone planetarium serving as the official State of New Hampshire memorial to Christa McAuliffe, opening in June 1990 as the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium. In 2001 it became the official state memorial to Admiral Alan Shepard as well, after his death in 1998. [1] It is one of two public planetaria in northern New England, along with the Lyman Spitzer Jr. Planetarium in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
In 2009, the organization more than quadrupled in size when it added a science museum focused on astronomy, aviation, Earth and space science; it was renamed the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center. The grand opening was on March 6, 2009. [1]
After 22 years as a State of New Hampshire agency, on January 1, 2013, the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center separated from the state and became a private sector nonprofit operation. The State of New Hampshire retained ownership of the facility and grounds, but engaged in a long-term lease with the new nonprofit operator, the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center Corporation. [2]
In 2019, the Discovery Center served as one of the primary settings of the independent film First Signal produced by New England–based company The Ashton Times. [3]
The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center's programs include the statewide high school "Astronomy Bowl" competition, annual "Aerospacefest" aerospace festival in the spring, [4] stargazing with the New Hampshire Astronomical Society along with a public science talk and planetarium show the first Friday of every month, a "teen night series" the second Friday night each month, an annual science symposium for educators the last week of June, an annual New Hampshire Space Grant Internship, homeschool and teacher workshops, toddler science workshops and summer camps.
The Discovery Center's exhibits include a 1956 XF8U-2 jet on loan from the National Naval Aviation Museum, [5] 1:1 scale models of the Mercury capsule inside and Mercury-Redstone outside, exhibits on planetary science, lunar exploration, Space Shuttle exhibits including a simulator and scale models, aviation, weather, science fiction toys and memorabilia including the suit worn by Grace Lee Whitney in the 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture , and chairs from Geordi La Forge's room in Star Trek: The Next Generation ; in addition, the Discovery Center brings in three traveling exhibits annually on science and engineering. [6]
The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center operates NASA's Educator Resource Center in New Hampshire and is a New Hampshire Space Grant institution. [7]
Concord is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2020 census the population was 43,976, making it the 3rd most populous city in New Hampshire after Manchester and Nashua. Governor Benning Wentworth gave the city its current name in 1765 following a boundary dispute with the neighboring town of Bow; the name was meant to signify the new concord, or harmony, between the two towns.
Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. was an American astronaut. In 1961, he became the second person and the first American to travel into space and, in 1971, he became the fifth and oldest person to walk on the Moon, at age 47.
Sharon Christa McAuliffe was an American teacher and astronaut from Concord, New Hampshire who was killed on the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L, where she was serving as a payload specialist.
Mercury-Redstone 3, or Freedom 7, was the first United States human spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the first crewed flight of Project Mercury. The project had the ultimate objective of putting an astronaut into orbit around the Earth and returning him safely. Shepard's mission was a 15-minute suborbital flight with the primary objective of demonstrating his ability to withstand the high g-forces of launch and atmospheric re-entry.
The PGM-11 Redstone was the first large American ballistic missile. A short-range ballistic missile (SRBM), it was in active service with the United States Army in West Germany from June 1958 to June 1964 as part of NATO's Cold War defense of Western Europe. It was the first US missile to carry a live nuclear warhead, in the 1958 Pacific Ocean weapons test, Hardtack Teak.
The Space Coast is a region in the U.S. state of Florida around the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It is one of several "themed" coasts around Florida. All orbital launches from American soil carrying NASA astronauts have departed from either KSC or Cape Canaveral. The Space Force Station has also launched unmanned military and civilian rockets. Cities in the area include Port St. John, Titusville, Cocoa, Rockledge, Cape Canaveral, Merritt Island (unincorporated), Cocoa Beach, Melbourne, Satellite Beach, Indian Harbour Beach, Indialantic, Melbourne Beach, Palm Bay, and Viera (unincorporated). Most of the area lies within Brevard County. It is bounded on the south by the Treasure Coast, on the west and north by Central Florida, and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean.
Cosmosphere is a space museum and STEM education center in Hutchinson, Kansas, United States. It was previously known as the Kansas Cosmosphere. The museum houses over 13,000 spaceflight artifacts—the largest combined collection of US and Russian spaceflight artifacts in the world, and is home to various space educational programs.
The U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama is a museum operated by the government of Alabama, showcasing rockets, achievements, and artifacts of the U.S. space program. Sometimes billed as "Earth's largest space museum", astronaut Owen Garriott described the place as, "a great way to learn about space in a town that has embraced the space program from the very beginning."
The Saint Louis Science Center, founded as a planetarium in 1963, is a collection of buildings including a science museum and planetarium in St. Louis, Missouri, on the southeastern corner of Forest Park. With over 750 exhibits in a complex of over 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2), it is among the largest of its type in the United States.
The Fleet Science Center is a science museum and planetarium in Balboa Park, located in San Diego, California. It is at the east end of the El Prado Drive walkway, next to the Bea Evenson Fountain and plaza in central Balboa Park.
Space Camp is an educational camp in Huntsville, Alabama, on the grounds of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center museum near NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. It provides residential and educational programs for children and adults on topics such as space exploration, aviation, and robotics. Run by the Alabama Space Science Exhibit Commission, a state government agency, more than 900,000 campers have graduated since 1982, including several future astronauts.
The Houston Museum of Natural Science is a natural history museum located on the northern border of Hermann Park in Houston, Texas, United States. The museum was established in 1909 by the Houston Museum and Scientific Society, an organization whose goals were to provide a free institution for the people of Houston focusing on education and science. The museum complex consists of a central facility with four floors of natural science halls and exhibits, the Burke Baker Planetarium, the Cockrell Butterfly Center, and the Wortham Giant Screen Theatre. In 2022, the museum received 1,520,000 visitors, making it seventh on the List of most-visited museums in the United States, and was the third most-visited U.S. science museum. Much of the museum's popularity is attributed to its large number of special or guest exhibits.
The Christa McAuliffe Space Center, in Pleasant Grove, Utah, teaches school children about space and is visited by students from around the world. It has a number of space flight simulators.
Scitech is a not-for-profit company operating as the Scitech Science Centre, a permanent, interactive science museum which includes a planetarium in West Perth, Western Australia.
Steven James McAuliffe is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire. He is the widower of Christa McAuliffe, one of the victims of the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
Michael David Reynolds was an American author and educator who served as professor of astronomy at Florida State College at Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Florida. He served as the director of Chabot Space and Science Center in Alameda County, California. Reynolds was best known for his work in science education, both in lecture halls and less formal settings. He also participated in astronomy and space exploration outreach.
The Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium is a combination natural science museum, history museum, and planetarium located in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. It was founded in 1890 by businessman, politician, naturalist, and collector Franklin Fairbanks. The museum and its buildings are on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.