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Some stories get so big, you need more than one storyteller to get them heard.

That's the case with the tale of New Mexico and space, said Mimi Roberts, director for media projects with the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.

"We have a really special place in the history of space exploration and discovery," she said. "The only way to do it really is to connect up together and do it as a collective effort because it is so big."

Inspired by plans for a spaceport in southern New Mexico, a coalition of museums has asked for $75,000 in planning funds from the National Science Foundation to create linked multimedia exhibits for museums across the state.

Roberts expects the funding request for "New Mexico's Space Trail" to get a reply in the spring.

The exhibits would display information from NASA that would change on a daily basis. They'd also feature stories about New Mexico's contributions to space exploration.

That could mean multimedia content about topics including the Very Large Array, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and White Sands Missile Range. Such work would be produced by graduate students at New Mexico Highlands University, who would partner with the University of New Mexico LodeStar Astronomy Center.

"We want local people to be able to feel like they're a part of this," Roberts said. "We know from visitations to museums and science centers that people love this story."

She said the idea was also inspired by museums wanting to show they could contribute to science education.

"We're always thinking about how we fit into our communities," she said.

Partnering institutions include the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science in Albuquerque, the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo, the Los Alamos National Laboratory Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos, New Mexico State Parks, as well as museums in Roswell, Las Cruces, Farmington.