CONCORD (AP) – The Christa McAuliffe Planetarium soon will be four times larger, and honor a second American space pioneer from New Hampshire.

The planetarium broke ground Friday on the $13 million Alan Shepard Discovery Center. Shepard was the first American in space in 1961. He was from Derry.

At the groundbreaking ceremony, McAuliffe’s mother, Grace Corrgian, said her daughter scoffed when people asked her how it felt to be a hero. Instead, she recalled her daughter saying Shepard was a hero.

He died in 1998 after a career in the Navy and as an astronaut in which he led Americans into space, and walked on the moon. McAuliffe was killed in the Challenger space shuttle explosion in 1986, striving to become the first ordinary citizen, and teacher, in space.

The center is intended to be a major regional science center, focused on astronomy, aviation, Earth science and space science. The first portion of it is expected to open in 2009.

The project will boast an observatory, traveling and permanent exhibits and a 110-seat theater. A 40-foot-high glass atrium with satellites suspended from the ceiling will greet visitors. The current 92-seat domed theater will be upgraded.

“It will give our children the opportunity of some day carrying on the legacy of Christa McAuliffe and Alan Shepard, and it will stand as a lasting tribute to two of our state, and two of our nation’s greatest heroes,” said Gov. John Lynch.

Also at the ceremony were Shepard’s daughters, Laura Shepard Churchley and Julie Shepard Jenkins.

Churchley recalled her father’s decision to become an astronaut. In 1959, she said, “Daddy sat us all down in the living room and said he wasn’t going to be flying airplanes for the Navy any longer, he was going to be working for NASA, he was going to be an astronaut.”

“We all looked at each other, and said ‘What is NASA? And what is an astronaut?’ Churchley said.

He said “They will take me, put me in a capsule, put the capsule on a rocket, fire the rocket into space, and I will come down to earth safely,” Churchley recalled. “We told him to have a good trip.”