WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- The Smithsonian says it may include debris from space shuttles Columbia and Challenger in a gallery dedicated to the soon-to-end U.S. shuttle program.
However, officials of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum say the Washington, D.C., display will only go forward if the families of the shuttles' fallen astronauts and NASA agree with the museum's plans. Seven crew members died in each shuttle disaster.
The artifacts, recovered after the loss of the Challenger 25 years ago last week and the loss of the Columbia eight years ago on Feb. 1, would be used to teach the public about the conditions that led to the two tragedies, curator Valerie Neal told collectSPACE.com Monday.
"We now have an exhibit environment, the new 'Moving Beyond Earth' exhibit, where we will address each of the tragedies," Neal said. "So, having an artifact related to them would be appropriate.
"It would be part of a story and it wouldn't be just an object that people would stare at and say 'Wow, that's part of the tragedy.' But it would it be an object that they could learn something from."
Whatever debris is chosen, Neal said, it would need to tell a story.
"We want to create enough of a story that [visitors] can achieve a better understanding [of the tragedies]. If the object helped to accomplish that, then I think it would be appropriate to display the object," explained Neal.
