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Portrait of the Challenger crew in a hallway of the U.S. Capitol, Washington, DC

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To honor the seven crew members of the space shuttle Challenger, Republican Leader Robert Dole of Kansas and Democratic Leader Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia proposed that a commemorative mural be placed in the Senate wing of the U.S. Capitol. The Senate Commission on Art, with the recommendation of a five-member advisory panel composed of museum professionals from the Smithsonian Institution, NASA, and the U.S. Capitol, selected Philadelphia artist Charles Schmidt for the commission. Schmidt's completed mural was placed in an empty oval in the Brumidi Corridors on the first floor of the Capitol's Senate wing, and unveiled on March 3, 1987.