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Cargo Tag from Jamestown Colony
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/jamestown-cargo-tag.jpgIn 2007, astronauts traveling to the International Space Station aboard Atlantis marked the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. They carried with them a small metal marker used to label merchandise heading across the Atlantic from England to the fledgling colony. Unearthed at the Jamestown site in 2006, the cargo tag is inscribed with the name of its destination: “Yames Towne.” The mission’s payload also included commemorative coins honoring American explorers. (Credit: NASA)
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Amelia Earhart and Her Lockheed Electra
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/amelia-earhart.jpgIn 1932, Amelia Earhart chose a man named Albert Bresnik to be her personal photographer. In November 2009, Bresnik’s grandson Randy, an astronaut on a mission aboard Atlantis, brought along the famous aviator’s favorite scarf as well as one of his grandfather’s photographs of her. (Credit: NASA)
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Eileen Collins Wearing A Scarf That Belonged to Earhart
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/eileen-collins.jpgThis was not the only time items associated with Earhart, who disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in 1937, were flown into orbit. Eileen Collins, who later became the first American woman to pilot and command the shuttle, took another of Earhart’s scarves on a 1990 mission that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope. And in 2010, astronaut Shannon Walker brought the watch Earhart wore during two transatlantic flights onto the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA)
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Commander Mark Polansky Receiving Items at the Holocaust Memorial Museum
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/refugee-bear.jpgMark Polansky wanted to pay tribute to his Jewish father and raise awareness of genocide in Darfur when he commanded a Discovery mission in December 2006. He contacted the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which presented him with a photograph of a Darfurian refugee as well as a replica of a small teddy bear that a Holocaust survivor received as a little girl and donated to the museum. (Credit: U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum)
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Lightsaber Wielded by Luke Skywalker in “Return of the Jedi”
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/light-saber.jpgTo honor the 30th anniversary of “Star Wars," a 2007 Discovery mission to the International Space Station brought along a prop from the 1983 film “Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi”: the lightsaber used by actor Mark Hamill, who portrayed Luke Skywalker. Shuttle astronauts have been known to take other “Star Wars”-related mementos into space among their personal items. (Credit: NASA)
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Moon Rock Brought to Earth by Apollo 11 Floating Above the International Space Station
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/moon-rock.jpgDuring the first lunar landing in July 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin collected moon rock samples to bring back to earth. In celebration of their historic mission’s 40th anniversary, one of these rocks returned to space aboard Endeavor in April 2009. It remained at the International Space Station for several months before catching a lift back on Discovery. (Credit: NASA)
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The Mary Rose on Display at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in England
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/mary-rose.jpgBuilt in 1510 and considered innovative for her time, the Mary Rose served as a warship in the English navy for 33 years before sinking during a 1545 battle. Her wreck was discovered in 1971 and salvaged in 1982. Michael Foale, one of the volunteer divers who helped excavate the Mary Rose, went on to become an astronaut for NASA. Thanks in part to this connection, the Mary Rose Museum loaned a small wooden ball—part of the mechanism that once raised the historic ship’s sails—to the crew of Discovery’s last mission. After more than 400 years underwater, the Mary Rose took flight in February 2011. (Credit: Mary Rose Trust)
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Captain James Cook
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/james-cook.jpgTwo space shuttles—Endeavor and Discovery—were named after ships commanded by the 18th-century British explorer James Cook. To commemorate this legacy, a medallion honoring Cook and donated by Britain’s Royal Society accompanied Discovery when it lifted off for its final voyage in February 2011.
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General Henry “Hap” Arnold
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/henry-arnold.jpgThe only officer to hold a five-star rank in two different American military services, Hap Arnold learned to fly from the Wright brothers and helped establish the modern U.S. Air Force. To commemorate his pivotal role in the history of American aviation, Endeavor carried the five-star insignia Arnold wore—on loan from the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force—during its final flight in May 2011.
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Edwin Hubble Gazing Through a Telescope in 1949
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/edwin-hubble.jpgIn 1923, the American astronomer Edwin Hubble revolutionized his field and radically altered our understanding of outer space when he identified a star beyond the Milky Way known as V1. His discovery proved the existence of other galaxies and revealed that the universe was even larger than previously thought. It seemed only fitting to honor his contributions during the 1990 Discovery mission that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope. At first his trademark pipe was considered for the voyage, but ultimately copies of the first photographic glass plate Hubble made of V1 accompanied his namesake telescope into space. (Credit: Getty Images)
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Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana Presents U.S. Honor Flag to Retired Astronaut Jerry Ross
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/honor-flag.jpgIn the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, an American flag flew over the World Trade Center Site—a symbol of hope amid tragedy and destruction. Known as the U.S. Honor Flag, it has since traveled across the country as a memorial to Americans who lost their lives while serving their country. It will now make its longest journey yet as a passenger aboard Atlantis during the shuttle program’s final mission, paying tribute to astronauts who died in the line of duty. (Credit: NASA)
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