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Space Shuttle Endeavour's On-Board Souvenir Stash

Posted by michael on from the got-junk dept.

Robert Pearlman writes: "Seven astronauts, four payloads, and over 11,000 souvenirs are on their way to the International Space Station, among them a U.S. flag recovered from the World Trade Center, a cylinder record which belonged to inventor Thomas Edison, and golf course markers from Scotland and Ireland. Read the entire manifest here."

39 comments

  1. Out to pasture? by imrdkl · · Score: 1
    Is this horse, if it is not dead yet, yes?

    Did you get to see the launch, anyways, Michael? How close did you manage to get?

    1. Re:Out to pasture? by vax · · Score: 0

      Hey iam just suprised they finally launched, nasa's operating plan is usually better late than never, at least somethings happening sure beats having bush spend 99.9% of the budget on bombs to blow those "evil" afgani crippled orphans to tiny bits, have you guys not heard about that yet? the did a bombing raid on a makeshift hospital containing crippled orphans but remember it was "by accident" yea just like they accidentally crashed planes into the WTC right right? all these accidents occuring i dont know how we get anything done.. heh but anyway back to space, something the human race as a whole should unite to explore rather that fight over the control of it.. Some day our goverment will realize how bad we are destroying this planet and then perhaps NASA will get a good budget (although anyone besides me notice that nasa will pay 2 million bucks for a off the shelf part and have it "contracted" by someone else? heh that cant be a very effective way of getting the most out of thier ever decreasing budget.. Aye wishful thinking i suppose..
      VAX

    2. Re:Out to pasture? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Some day our goverment will realize how bad we are destroying this planet

      Unfortunately by the time they realize it it will be

      Some day our goverment will realize how badly we destroyed this planet

    3. Re:Out to pasture? by imrdkl · · Score: 1

      man, that was a pretty depressing followup to my comment. michael really has posted about this thing 4 times in the last two weeks. could we at least wait until it docks before we hear more, now, hmm. i really wonder if you mean all of that, to me you sound pretty depressed, thats for sure. look, it aint over until its over, right? so dont give up hope yet, friend. on the other hand perhaps my comment was out of place, but then on the third hand i could have argued successfully, i think, that this post could have carried the USA selection and/or possibly the geeks in space topic.

    4. Re:Out to pasture? by vax · · Score: 0

      Depression is the frustration of the unknown. I unforunatly am not blessed with depression. but perhaps rather knowledge. knowledge is power and ignorance is bliss so they say right? there are always choices, make them well i suppose. The information is out there and the big picture comes more into focus daily, soon enough we will be able to see on our own what we have denied for so long. not a rant, just a prediction.

      freedom is ours, but only when we want it

    5. Re:Out to pasture? by vax · · Score: 0

      i notice the bias now more than ever on here. lean twords the more geek compelled exiting assets get a +5 informative, tell the truth when its not what people want to hear and get a 0. Makes you wonder no?

      moderate in moderation boys even you cant stop the truth from finding publics eye

  2. Rare by Karma+50 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    a cylinder record which belonged to inventor Thomas Edison

    Isn't something like this rare and interesting(*)? Why risk sending it into space just for the novelty value of saying it has done so?

    * I tried looking at the official Edision national historic site at http://www.nps.gov/edis/home.htm to see how rare this is, but of course this site was shutdown yesterday!

    --
    http://www.thehungersite.com
  3. 6,000 miniature flags by Taufiq · · Score: 1
    This is a good and perfect idea. When I think about the US space program, I am reminded of Kennedy when he said, We choose to go to the moon, and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.


    I am proud to be and American, because we, together, can do these hard tasks.

    1. Re:6,000 miniature flags by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You Americans didn't even do the other things, because you are a bunch of sorry losers. Six thousand flags? Sheesh.

    2. Re:6,000 miniature flags by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Huh? Aren't you the sorry loser? Or is anonymously insulting people suddenly cool?

    3. Re:6,000 miniature flags by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At least I'm not a sorry American loser paying billions of dollars to send six thousand pathetic miniature flags up into space. Your homeless people must be so proud of the home of the brave and the land of the free.

    4. Re:6,000 miniature flags by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The shuttle isn't being launched just to put a few flags in space. They're just getting a free ride on a shuttle mission.

      And quit with the America bashing, troll. You're far more of a loser than most Americans ever will be.

    5. Re:6,000 miniature flags by freeweed · · Score: 3, Funny
      Actually, it reminds me of the simpsons episode:


      Alien: Abortions for everyone
      Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOO!!!

      Alien: OK, Abortions for no one
      Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOO!!!

      Alien: OK, Abortions for some, miniature american flags for all
      Crowd: YAAAAAAYYYY!!!

      --
      Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
    6. Re:6,000 miniature flags by Lars+T. · · Score: 2

      So why 6,000 flags? The official death toll is less than 4,000 (article), hundreds of them weren't even Americans.

      --

      Lars T.

      To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

  4. stupid question by Ledge · · Score: 2, Funny

    Item 7a.

    1. 5 Each Small Meatball Lapel Pins

    What the hell is a small meatball lapel pin??

    --
    If it ain't a Model M, it's a piece of crap.
    1. Re:stupid question by Leif_Bloomquist · · Score: 2, Informative


      The "Meatball" is NASA's internal slang term for the version of their logo with the blue ball.

      http://www.nasa.gov/images/hotnasa.gif

  5. Close to home.... by Mr.Phil · · Score: 1

    Number 50 on the list, an 8"x10" class photo from Roscommon MI hits close to home. Roscommon MI is where I work, so I'm trying to find out exactly why an STS-108 crewmember requested that this photo make the trip.

    1. Re:Close to home.... by "Zow" · · Score: 2

      You know, that's not the only one - there are a lot of items on there that would seem to be of primarily personal value to one or a small group of people. And what's up with the suveneers (sp?) for resturants and country clubs? I mean, I think the flags for those struck by the tragedy of September 11 is great, and I see the use of many of the items for agency presentations or diplomatic relations, but I really wonder what the selection criteria is for the rest of the items? I'm sure every elementary school would like to send their school flag or picture into space (okay, at least that was the case when I was a kid 15-20 years ago), so what made those that were selected so special? (Maybe they've been waiting 15 years for a slot?) I imagine there have got to be some good stories there.

      -"Zow"

    2. Re:Close to home.... by collectspace · · Score: 1

      Most of the items flown for local schools and organizations (and apparently, golf courses) are at the request of the crew.

      Take for example, #s 48 and 52 -- both of which were gathered from West Orange, NJ (by coincidence, my hometown). I don't know positively, but its a good bet that pilot Mike Kelly requested these items be flown as he also grew up in West Orange.

      That might also account for Edison's cylinder record. The location of Edison's historical site and laboratory? Yep, you guessed it: West Orange.

      (BTW, in addition to the Official Flight Kit, the astronauts each have their own little stash of personal items onboard. That's called a Personal Preference Kit (PPK), the contents of which are not released to the public.)

    3. Re:Close to home.... by big_hairy_mama · · Score: 1

      > so what made those that were selected so special?

      You might ask that question about the more than 35 Texas state flags they have up there (far more than any other state, as far as I can tell). Did Mr. Bush have something to do with that? :) It seems like a waste of resources to send all that weight (1 pound of flags, @ $10,000 a pound).

    4. Re:Close to home.... by "Zow" · · Score: 2

      That one, I'm guessing, had more to do with the strong NASA element in Texas than any connection with dub'ya.

      -"Zow"

    5. Re:Close to home.... by big_hairy_mama · · Score: 1

      Duh, brain fart! How could I forget, "Houston, we have a problem."

  6. Isn't this a little expensive? by Gord.ca · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Last I heard, sending stuff into space costs thousands per kilogram. A few 4"x6" flags aren't going to make a big difference; a few thousand will. I couldn't find a total weight of all this junk on the linked site, but I'd think it'd be a few kilos at least.

    Why is cash-strapped NASA doing this? Just for the fun of it? Or are the $thousands insignificant in its $billions budget? Or are they getting extra $ from elsewhere?

    --
    The opinons expressed are those of the voices in the author's head and are not necessarily those of the author.
    1. Re:Isn't this a little expensive? by collectspace · · Score: 3, Informative
      If the Space Shuttle was only launching to carry the 11,000 souvenirs, than yes -- this would be (literally) pound wise and penny foolish.

      But the prime cargo are the larger items in the payload bay, followed by the astronauts. So, you might as well stuff every nook and cranny aboard that orbiter -- as its going to launch regardless (a.k.a. there are no savings for lighter cargo)

    2. Re:Isn't this a little expensive? by Kvasir · · Score: 2
      expensive to do, but think of the profit you could make:


      1) getting museums/restaurants/clubs/schools to PAY you to send their logo covered 'souvenirs' into space;


      2) selling your own products when they come back down "Authentic meatball lapel pin has spent >24h in actual, real, genuine space"....


      NASA may make some weird decisions about which projects to fund and which to ditch overboard, but sometimes they have good business sense (either that or they are learning from the nouveau riche capitalists in Russia who are pumping their space program for all it is worth...

      --
      this signature is a virus, please make me your .sig so I can continue to spread :/
    3. Re:Isn't this a little expensive? by Trebuchet · · Score: 1

      Lighter cargo=less fuel. And, the more fuel you take, the more you need to lift that fuel. Of course, its possible that they just fill the tanks full, and dont give exactly enough fuel for the trip...

      --

      Malcolm solves his problems with a chainsaw,
      And he never has the same problem twice.
    4. Re:Isn't this a little expensive? by Detritus · · Score: 2

      Fuel is cheap. It's the hardware that burns the fuel, and the people who support the launch, that cost the big bucks. If your launch vehicle can carry 20,000 pounds to LEO, you aren't saving much, if any, money if you put less than 20,000 pounds of payload on it.

      --
      Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
    5. Re:Isn't this a little expensive? by tolan's+my+name · · Score: 1

      Yes but you have to carry the extra fuel to lift the extra weight, this has weight itself and so on, he's right, your wrong.

  7. Wow...flags... by tregoweth · · Score: 2, Funny

    Under the "Flags for Heroes and Families" program, 6,000 small U.S. flags are also on-board, to be distributed to the victims' families and emergency response teams.

    "We're so sorry about the loss of your loved one...but here's a flag that's been in space! Well, in a hermetically sealed package in a storage compartment in a spacecraft in space, but still...oooh!"

    1. Re:Wow...flags... by Taufiq · · Score: 1

      What would you rather have NASA do as a tribute to the lost lives of 9/11?

    2. Re:Wow...flags... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What would you rather they do? NASA doesn't have the budget to make meaningful charity donations. Sending flags is a relatively cheap* and original way to pay tribute to the disaster. And it's better than nothing.

      *As another poster said, the shuttle's going up anyway so you might as well stuff a few flags on board.

    3. Re:Wow...flags... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's pathetic. You could be sending scientific equipment, or even food for those astronauts. It's not like there's ever any empty space left on the shuttle that you "might as well put flags in"; there's always useful stuff you need up there.

    4. Re:Wow...flags... by TheOnlyCoolTim · · Score: 1

      Yeah, there's a big problem up there with the astronauts always running out of freeze dried Astronaut Ice Cream and having to resort to cannibalism.

      Tim

      --
      Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
    5. Re:Wow...flags... by Karma+50 · · Score: 1

      Do they have to do anything? You have to be pretty petty to believe that just because they don't do something visible that they don't care.

      --
      http://www.thehungersite.com
    6. Re:Wow...flags... by Suidae · · Score: 3, Funny

      easy, two words: Orbital Fireworks. Definately. Throw big balls of chemically doped junk into the atmosphere to make colorful artifical meteors. Bright, long lasting ones.

    7. Re:Wow...flags... by big_hairy_mama · · Score: 1

      a.k.a Mir

  8. If I was on the space station... by itwerx · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...I'd be pissed!
    We don' need no steenkin' "meatball lapel pins". We haven't seen a woman in six months! Where's the pr0n?!?

  9. Here it is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    97. 1 Each Sorority Photograph Chi Omega Sorority, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

  10. Karma Whore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're a worse Karma Whore than the ol' GWB