Shuttle Launches with Seven Astronauts, 6,000 Mementos

Space Shuttle Discovery lifts-off from Kennedy Space Center on July 4, 2006 with the crew of mission STS-121. CREDIT: collectSPACE.com.

Space shuttle Discovery launched the seven-person crew of STS-121 to orbit today, and with them, each took personal items to make their 12-days in space (or five months, as in the case of the soon-to-be space station resident on-board) a bit more like their life back on Earth. 

The mission, NASA's 115th to be launched by the shuttle and the second test flight to follow the Columbia accident in 2003, carries in addition to the crew, 5,100 pounds of supplies and equipment for the International Space Station and new hardware to test shuttle safety techniques and perform repairs to the outpost. Stowed aboard Discovery's middeck are also thousands of fruit flies for an experiment dedicated to understanding the human immune system. 

Inside a separate locker is the mission's Official Flight Kit, a collection of over 6,400 mementos being flown on behalf of NASA, its partner contractors and countries, and the organizations that have supported the crew of STS-121. 

"I am carrying [inside the Official Flight Kit] a banner from the Merchant Marine Academy, [and] I believe, a hat from there," pilot Mark Kelly told collectSPACE during a series of interviews conducted several weeks earlier with the crew. "That's where I went to school as an undergrad. I am carrying stuff for them." 

Separate from the Official Flight Kit (OFK), each crew member can carry a "personal preference kit," a small package of memorabilia for family and friends that NASA limits to 20 items and 1.5 pounds each. 

[Read the complete manifest of the STS-121 Official Flight Kit by clicking here.] 

"Personally, [I am carrying] stuff for my kids," said Kelly. "Some charms and stuff [for] my parents, my girlfriend, that sort of thing... mostly jewelry." 

For their schools, civic groups and other groups, the crew members are each allocated a few items in the OFK. 

"Some of the stuff actually belongs to [STS-121 mission specialist] Piers [Sellers]."If you see the United Kingdom stuff in there, it's not me. I gave him some of my spots," explained Kelly. 

Sellers, who was born in the United Kingdom but is a U.S. citizen, has made local-U.K. headlines leading up to the today's launch for taking with him flags from schools in England and Scotland. 

"I'm taking a few little things for family and friends, and a few things for the training team, the guys who spent years preparing us for this mission and training us. And a few flags and emblems for other organizations. Nothing much, nothing that you couldn't fit into a shoebox," Sellers told collectSPACE. 

Collectors on the crew 

Though the two women on the crew consider themselves collectors, neither is carrying items from their hobbies. 

"I have a large collection of rubber stamps," described first-time mission specialist Lisa Nowak. "I like to make cards with them and sometimes just play with them. My little girls recently found out there are all kinds artwork they can create with them, not necessarily all on paper." 

Asked if she was therefore flying a rubber stamp with her to space, Nowak admitted to overlooking that possibility. 

"That would have been a good thing! I didn't put down that on my list of things, but no I am not taking one." 

Instead, Nowak is taking with her a more personal item. 

"My grandmother died a few years ago at age almost 100, and one of the special presents she left to me was her very beautiful engagement ring. I am taking that with me. That's probably one of the most treasured items that's going up there," she said. 

Nowak's fellow female crewmate also collects stamps but of a different kind: the banned-from-flight postal variety. 

"We are not allowed to bring any stamps to space, much to my dismay," said mission specialist Stephanie Wilson. 

Federal regulations for the personal preference kits (PPK) and OFK specifically preclude "items such as philatelic materials and coins that, by their nature lend themselves to exploitation by the recipients." 

Exploitation however, is far from the reason why Wilson collects stamps. 

"I started collecting stamps pretty young, I believe when I was eight," described Wilson. "I mostly collect stamps off letters that I receive. I usually don't go out and purchase stamps but I like to be able to tell a story about a stamp: it came from this individual, on this card." 

"So, it's probably not worth very much," continued Wilson, "but it's more sentimental than probably a pristine stamp collection. It's interesting to me to see the designs of the different stamps from the various countries." 

Her stamp remaining on Earth, Wilson chose other items special to her, including a bible. 

"I have a few personal items for family members. From the Buffalo Solider Museum that is here in Houston, I am flying a flag commonly flown by one of the regiments of the Buffalo Soldiers," she said. 

Showing school spirit 

Wilson is also carrying items from her graduate school, the University of Texas, which is the subject of a good natured rivalry with mission specialist and Texas A&M University alum Michael Fossum. 

Said Wilson, "We both try to have a lot of paraphernalia from our schools. In general, when [Mike's] performing a run in our pool in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, he has a bandana that has Texas A&M on it and so for different events, we'll have different mementos or memorabilia from our schools. 

"I think the pictures on orbit will be interesting as we bring out the various memorabilia. I am hoping that none of mine will be missing and I am sure he's hoping none of his will be missing as well," Wilson said. 

Indeed, Fossum says he hopes that both his, and more importantly, Wilson's mementos stay in their respective control. 

"I certainly have my mementos that I have tucked away and I know she does, too," Fossum told collectSPACE. "I suspect we might both see a little of each others. 

"My biggest fear is I'll be getting ready to go out the door for my spacewalk, and she's one of the people that will actually be helping me get into the suit and get to get prepared, and that she's going to do something like put a [University of Texas] Longhorn sticker on my forehead," joked Fossum. "I'll never live it down." 

Fossum will 'be prepared' for anything Wilson plans, as obtaining the rank of Eagle in the Boy Scouts taught him. Still an active scout leader, he is flying badges that both he and his son earned. 

"I am carrying a couple of [boy scout] uniform parts with me into space. I'm carrying actually my Eagle pin from when I earned my Eagle as a scout. I'm carrying one that my older son earned about a year ago. I am carrying it for him," Fossum told collectSPACE. 

Digital deliveries 

In addition to the tangible trinkets, the crew is also taking electronic files that are personal to them. 

"We actually carry iPods now [so] I had my son put a lot of [music] on there for me," Commander Steven Lindsey said. "I'm not really exactly sure what I have on there. He promises that it is music that I am going to like but I've heard some of the stuff he listens to and I'm not sure I will. But fortunately, I hardly have any time to listen to it." 

For European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter, the only STS-121 crewmember who will remain on the space station after Discovery undocks, electronic archives mean the ability to carry more for his five month mission than if he had been limited to hard copies. 

"I also had the chance to take some personal items, most of it in electronic format. That is, by the way, also one of the big differences to my stay on-board the Russian space station Mir," Reiter told collectSPACE. "The music I had to record on minidiscs and I had to take it up. Nowadays, everything can be put in electronic form: music, electronic books, pictures of the family." 

"And of course, I also take also some paper pictures, some patches from my military flying squadron, from my university, from my hometown with me." 

In fact, most of Reiter's personal mementos weren't his to choose. 

"My family prepared a little surprise packet for me. Of course I don't know yet what is in it, it's already stowed, so as soon as we get on orbit and it is unpacked, it will be quite interesting to see what they were thinking of and what they provided there."

Copyright 2006 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.