Planetarium to receive prisoner-built replica of doomed shuttle

Planetarium to receive prisoner-built replica of doomed shuttle

Posted 5/20/2004 6:40 PM Updated 5/20/2004 6:55 PM


By Sara Leitch, Associated Press
PORTLAND, Maine — Displayed among model boats, wooden furniture and
knickknacks at the Maine State Prison's gift shop on Thursday was a
one-of-a-kind item with a prized place in the window.

The scale model of the space shuttle Challenger — six feet long and
nearly four feet wide — was created from wood with painstaking
attention to detail, down to the outline of each of the individual
tiles.

The model was removed from its perch Thursday for delivery to the
Christa McAuliffe Planetarium in Concord, N.H, where it will be
displayed in the lobby.

"I'm completely delighted," said Jeanne Gerulskis, the planetarium's
executive director. "You can tell people all you want about the
Challenger. But seeing it in three dimensions really makes it come
alive."

Planetarium officials put in a request for the model after seeing a
smaller version of the Challenger created at the prison.

The first Challenger model was commissioned at the behest of Ray
Griffin, administrator for the McAuliffe/Challenger Center at
Framingham State College in the town of McAuliffe's birth in
Massachusetts.

McAuliffe, a New Hampshire teacher who was supposed to be the first
U.S. educator to travel in space, died along with six other crew
members when the Challenger exploded after liftoff on Jan. 28, 1986.

Griffin got the idea for the model after passing the prison shop while
driving along U.S. Route 1. He stopped to take a look.

"I wondered what they do in there. Did they sell striped shirts or
something? I had no idea," Griffin said.

When he saw the handcrafted items sold at the store, he started to
wonder if he could place a special order.

"I thought, 'If these men have the skills to do that kind of detail on
a model of a three-masted schooner, I'll bet they could create a model
of the Challenger,'" he said.

The prison refused his request, saying it doesn't take special orders.
But it eventually relented.

Rod Whitten, the prisoner who carved both of the models, initially
said he thought it was too much work. But he decided to think about it
over the weekend — the same weekend that the space shuttle Columbia
disintegrated upon re-entering the Earth's atmosphere over Texas.

He didn't necessarily view the second shuttle tragedy as an omen. But,
he said, "I thought maybe I should try."

The first model now displayed at Framingham inspired the second, which
was loaded into a van Thursday for the trip to New Hampshire, where it
will hang belly up from the ceiling of the planetarium's lobby.

Now Whitten, who's serving a 25-year sentence for a domestic incident,
is planning an even bigger and better shuttle.

This third project, already under way, will feature the shuttle along
with its orange fuel tank and two solid-fuel rocket boosters. It will
stand nearly nine feet tall and weigh 500 pounds.

"I carve animals and things, and this is an entirely different
entity," Whitten said Thursday during an interview at the Maine State
Prison in Warren. "It's like building a model but building all of the
pieces before you build the model."

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/20...er-model_x.htm

On Sun, 23 May 2004 12:41:45 -0700, Rusty Barton
wrote:

Now Whitten, who's serving a 25-year sentence for a domestic incident,
is planning an even bigger and better shuttle.

This third project, already under way, will feature the shuttle along
with its orange fuel tank and two solid-fuel rocket boosters. It will
stand nearly nine feet tall and weigh 500 pounds.

I wonder if he's thought about putting real rocket motors on it,
climbing inside and attempting an escape?

Dale

Dale wrote:
Now Whitten, who's serving a 25-year sentence for a domestic incident,
is planning an even bigger and better shuttle.

This third project, already under way, will feature the shuttle along
with its orange fuel tank and two solid-fuel rocket boosters. It will
stand nearly nine feet tall and weigh 500 pounds.

I wonder if he's thought about putting real rocket motors on it,
climbing inside and attempting an escape?
...

And if he takes a couple of guys along for the ride, he might even have
a good shot at the X-Prize!

--
Best regards,
Andrey Tarasevich