Here are the designs for the Christa McAuliffe $1 Commemorative Coin. I think it's a real shame that the rest of the astronauts aboard the Challenger aren't also commemorated somewhere on this coin (maybe put their names on the periphery of the obverse). After all, there were 6 others on the shuttle and they all died too. IMO several of the obverse designs are ghastly. I kind of like the CM-O-04 design for the obverse. The reverses in general are FAR too busy for my tastes, and/or inappropriate. I particularly oppose design CM-R-12 (and 12A), as not a single one of the books shown have anything to do with STEM, which is what McAuliffe flying aboard a shuttle was all about. If I HAD to make a choice, I guess, staying true to the "Teacher in Space" aspect of McAuliffe's flight, I'd picture CM-R-11A as my choice, as it shows a blackboard, a bunch of books and, "May Your Future Be Limited Only By Your Dreams". However, as I said, all of the reverses are too busy for my taste. One of the ones that amused me, as someone who has taught, was CM-R-06, a picture of a space helmet and some phrases. I was quickly scanning the thumbnail pictures at first. In the center in script letters it says, "I Teach". However, at first glance I just looked at the center of the design and the script I sort of looks like steam vapor, and the faceplate of the space helmet looked like a coffee mug, and I thought How Appropriate! I know a lot of teachers that need their morning coffee to face their first class of the day. Needless to say, I won't be buying the coin. https://www.usmint.gov/news/ccac-meetings/2021-christa-mcauliffe-commemorative-coin
I'm not a big fan of commemorating failure. I was in high school when this happened and they had us watching it live on TV. It was a horrible day and one that I would rather not relive. Those designs are abysmal.
I distinctly remember how big of a deal this was at the time. She was to be the first step toward making space flight attainable to us regular folks. I have to agree. I am not a fan of the designs. Of those offered I am most drawn to CM-O-08 obverse simply because it is somewhat interesting and CM-R-04 reverse......... The presidents address at the time was so moving to me. I wish they would have thought about adding his "Slipping the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God" address on the coin. Man, that was a moving tribute.
I think they are hideous. As someone who deeply loves the space program I am fine with a Challenger memorial coin if they want to make one...but lets do it to honor the whole crew, not just the one who was there as a publicity stunt. I saw these designs this morning over at CollectSpace and I didn't want to comment there on them because I had nothing positive to say.
That may have been the perception but it wasn't reality. NASA was never gonna fly people just for fun...they had to have a purpose. McAuliffe was the most public of those...but she wasn't the first. A number of Payload Specialists has flown shuttle missions before her. Most were company engineers from various aerospace firms who were deploying satellites on missions or had contracted with NASA to perform experiments. But, they were not true astronauts and there was a very divided Astronaut Corps over whether it was safe to fly with them or not. McAuliffe was a publicity stunt, nothing more. Would there have been more after her had the mission not ended in a disaster...sure until the disaster came. And one was coming sooner or later. Lets also not forget, she wasn't the only non-astronaut on the shuttle that day. There was a Hughes Engineer who was a payload specialist as well. His name was Gregory Jarvis.
I find myself pretty much in agreement with Skyman on this one. I hate most of the designs. Obverse 4/4A is the only one I'd call presentable, and the reverses are mostly train wrecks, some horrific, with none that I like. They're so bad, in fact, that I'm surprised not to see Comic Sans used in any of them. Also, memorializing a single crew member is anathema of the concept of a crew. "But she was a teacher!" So what? She was part of the crew and no more exhalted because of her background. So glad I gave up the auto-pilot commem purchases in the early 90s when Ron Landis and the GMM started making their repros.
I can see many sides to this one; none of them perfect. An entire crew did perish tragically when Challenger exploded. From recent studies that I've read, it even sounds like the crew actually survived the explosion and were likely conscious as they plummeted to Earth. That just adds to the horror. The true failure it does highlight is the lack of an escape mechanism for Shuttle astronauts. Because of this, at least one book I've read recently called the Shuttle "arguably the most dangerous spacecraft ever flown." On another side, and not that I completely agree with this, I can see where the mint sees a Christa McAuliffe coin as having more selling potential than a "Challenger Disaster" coin. One could argue this forever, of course. Whether she was a marketing gimmick or not, also up for debate, she was presented as a "teacher in space" to the wider public and she did receive more press and attention because of that. But yes, I also agree that focusing on her alone potentially diminishes the crew's contributions. In the end, I think it would have been a hard call to make. I'm guessing that debates such as these also happened at the mint and someone had to make a decision. Not to sound cynical, but sales potential likely won out. Of course that's an assumption. Regardless, I don't really buy commemoratives anyway, so I also likely won't buy this one. And, as usual, the designs presented don't really inspire any swoons in my being either. Oh well.
I think we tend to look down on the shuttle because there were two fatal accidents and because the program was somewhat boring to the public. We need to remember these are still experimental vehicles. 2 fatal accidents out of 135 flights is a pretty good safety record considering how cutting edge it was. Bare in mind, not a lot of close calls either. The Soyuz has also had two fatal accidents and a ton of close calls in just about as many missions. The shuttle did have two major design flaws. There was real escape system during launch (they did add some options for down range during launch but once there was nothing until after SRB separation). It also had an unprotected heat shield.
I've made many posts about how wrong I feel it is to single her out and ignore the rest of the crew so I won't say any more on that. Regardless more than half those designs are atrocious and the rest aren't much better
I like CM-R-01 and feel it as great symbolism for the teachers in space program and the interesting idea it was
