Columbus' compass and crew's mementos on-board space shuttle Atlantis (STS-122 Official Flight Kit)

Columbus' compass, crew's mementos on Atlantis (STS-122 OFK)

February 11, 2008

— When Christopher Columbus left the shores of Spain in 1492, he sailed with the guidance of a compass as he sought a quicker route to the West via the east (unknowingly reaching the New World in the process).

Five hundred years later, Columbus is still traveling with a compass, though the direction of discovery has changed.

"We're trying to show the continuing voyage of discovery of the early explorers, symbolized by the ship and taking it from their path, from east to west when they were in their age of discovery, to our orbital path of discovery from the west to east," described astronaut Rex Walheim of his and his crew's mission insignia. "The shape kind of takes in the old compasses that show you directions; that was kind of a nice shape that hadn't been seen before [on a patch]."

Walheim, together with fellow astronaut Stan Love, made a spacewalk today to outfit the European Space Agency's Columbus science lab, named for the Genoan explorer, in preparation for removing the module from shuttle Atlantis' payload bay to attach it to the International Space Station. Both spacewalkers were wearing their mission's compass- shaped emblem, which Walheim's wife had designed.

"My wife came up with the original design," Walheim told collectSPACE.com during a pre-flight interview. "She's a graphic designer by trade. She's a stay-at-home mom now but she designed the patch."

"Designing for engineers is not the most pleasant activity, if you've the seen results of some of engineers' designs being artistic. So, I think it worked out well," he said with a smile.

Like the 15th century explorer, Walheim and his STS-122 crewmates launched their mission with a packed ship, as most of the shuttle's cargo capacity was taken by the 22.6 foot long by 14.7 foot wide Columbus lab, as well as their own supplies for the voyage. Still, the seven person crew had a small space in which to fly a few personal items for themselves and for others.

For example, Walheim's brother Lance, a garden expert for Bayer Advanced, delivered him a dried rose that is named for and will be featured in the Tournament of Roses. It was originally planned to be part of the 2008 parade but as the mission was delayed by two months, it will be incorporated into Bayer's 2009 float.

Walheim also chose some small mementos to fly. "I have packed some medallions of our crew patch," Walheim said of the items he packed for his family. "I have got a banner from my school, from the University of California that I will fly with me."

Stan Love, who became Walheim's spacewalking partner after another crewman, Hans Schlegel fell ill, also packed items for his schools.

"I'm flying a t-shirt with signatures for my high school, same thing for my graduate school. My college sent me some stuff to take. The University of Hawaii, where I worked for a year before I came [to NASA], is sending a meteorite because I worked in the meteorite group there. And so it's going to be the world's only meteorite to enter the atmosphere twice," Love told collectSPACE.

As for Schlegel, who was reported to be feeling better and is expected to perform the flight's second spacewalk, he is flying items for his family and for home town in Germany. This is Schlegel's second mission, though he chose not to take anything from his first flight 15 years ago, "besides my spirit," he said.

Schlegel's European crewmate, Leopold Eyharts, who was transferred to the space station's crew and will stay there until the next shuttle arrives to bring him home, also flew mementos for his home region in France but preferred not to share the details, yet.

"I don't want to tell it actually, but you will probably know it when I am there [on the station]," he teased. "I have a few surprises for the people that I am bringing things for."

"I am flying an item for each of my colleges that I went to, I'm flying some things for the Navy, a couple of religious organizations," shared Atlantis' pilot Alan 'Dex' Poindexter.

All of the crew's items are packed into one of two different kits that are standard on every mission. The astronauts' mementos for other individuals are packed within personal preference kits, separate for each crew member. Items for their schools and other organizations, together with items flown for NASA and its partners, are stored inside a single 2 cubic foot container, referred to as the Official Flight Kit.

Among the thousands of mementos in the STS-122 OFK are two (deflated) footballs, one of which is packed for the alma matter of the only former NFL player among NASA's astronaut corps.

"I'm taking up a couple of NFL jerseys, Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys," said Leland Melvin, who had been a member of both teams before an injury forced his career change.

"I am taking up Christian McBride's 'Live At Tonic,' his new album. I'm taking that up because I went to a concert a while back, met him and we talked."

Melvin's also brought some of his own music.

"I play piano and I try to compose some songs every now and then. I've recorded a few songs. At home I have a little studio where I record," he explained. "Everything that was on my computer, it's now on the space iPod so I will have some of my music and quite a few songs."

Melvin is also taking a symbol of his inquisitiveness that led to his becoming an astronaut. "I am taking a Curious George t-shirt that a friend of mine gave me, because that's one of the books my mother read to me every day when I was a child, even before I could read. I always liked the fact that he was curious about life [as] that is something that I have always aspired to, being curious and staying focused on things that are out there," he said.

Like Melvin, STS-122 mission commander Stephen Frick also thought of his childhood.

"Sadly no lightsabers, STS-120 beat us to that punch. Certainly all of us are Star Wars fans from our early days, so we were excited to see that go up."

Instead, STS-122 is carrying three green race flags from the Daytona 500, which like NASA, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Two of the flags will be returned to NASCAR after the mission lands.

A collection of STS-122 compass-shaped patches floats inside a bag labeled for Atlantis mission specialist Leland Melvin. (NASA)

STS-122 spacewalker Rex Walheim holds a dried rose near his patch on his arm. He is flying the rose in the STS-122 OFK. (NASA)

NASCAR's three Daytona 500 green race flags as photographed before they were packed on Atlantis for the STS-122 flight. (NASA)

The STS-122 Official Flight Kit Manifest

The following is the STS-122 Official Flight Kit manifest, as provided by NASA. Inventory numbers that are missing indicate items that were removed prior to launch.

No.	Description	Sponsor/Purpose

1.	650 STS-122 Crew Patches	Agency Presentation
2.	600 Small United States Flags	Agency Presentation
3.	4 Sets U.S. States & Territories Flags	Agency Presentation
4.	4 Sets United Nations Members Flags	Agency Presentation
5.	20 Small Texas Flags 5 Small NASA Flags 4 Small POW/MIA Flags 1 Bronze NASA Seal 1 Silver Shuttle Pendant	Agency Presentation
6.	10 Small Flags of the Following States: Pennsylvania Texas California Virginia	Agency Presentation
7.	5 Small Flags of the Following States: Maryland Florida Michigan Oregon Washington Hawaii Iowa	Agency Presentation
8.	Small Flags of the Following Countries & State: 30 Germany 30 France 1 North Rhine-Westphalia	Agency Presentation
9.	20 Each Small Military Flags: U.S. Air Force U.S. Army U.S. Coast Guard U.S. Marine Corps U.S. Navy	Agency Presentation
10.	10 Small United States Flags 10 Small Alabama State Flags	Marshall Space Flight Center Presentation
11.	10 Small Louisiana State Flags 10 Small Mississippi State Flags 5 Small NASA Flags 5 Small United States Flags	Stennis Space Center Presentation
12.	2 Small United States Flags 2 Small Florida State Flags	Kennedy Space Center Presentation
13.	140 Silver Snoopy Pins	Space Flight Awareness Presentation

14.	25 EVA Patches	Agency Presentation
16.	20 Small U.S. Flags 10 STS-122 Crew Patches	DoD Presentation
17.	15 STS-122 Crew Patches	United Space Alliance Presentation

18.	28 Constellation Pins	Agency Presentation
19.	3 (21.5"x31") Daytona 500 Flags	Agency Presentation

Items 20 through 76 are manifested at the request of the STS-122 crewmembers.

20.	3'x5' United States Flag	U.S. Navy Strike Fighter Squadron Eight Three, Norfolk, VA

21.	3'x5' United States Flag	U.S. Navy USS Eisenhower, CVN-69, Norfolk, VA

22.	STS-122 Silver Medallion	West Galveston County Interfaith Caring Ministries, Santa Fe, TX

23.	3'x5' Blue, Gold and White Nylon Flag	Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA

24.	Metal Dog Tag with Leather Thong	Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA

25.	Blue Patch	U.S. Navy F-14 Digital Flight Control Systems Group, Patuxent River, MD

26.	Bronze Medallion	Pensacola Junior College, Pensacola, FL

27.	Gold Commemorative Medallion in Casing	Margaritaville Holdings, Key West, FL

28.	White T-Shirt	Kennedy Space Center Forward/Aft Shop, Orsino, FL

29.	Bronze Medallion	Georgia Institute of Technology Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps, Atlanta, GA

30.	Red and Blue Patch	U.S. Navy Carrier Air Wing One, Norfolk, VA

31.	3'x5' U.S. Flag	U.S. Navy Test Pilot School, Patuxent River, MD

32.	Grey and Maroon T-Shirt	Tierra Linda Middle School, San Carlos, CA

33.	Deflated Brown and White Football	University of California, Berkley, CA

34.	8"x5" Aircraft Banner	Norsk Luftfartsmuseum, Bode, Norway

35.	Small Wood Box	Country of Norway, Oslo, Norway

36.	Space Poster	Idaho Museum of Aviation, Idaho Falls, ID

37.	School Banner	Hurley Elementary School, Visalia, CA

38.	30"x30" Cloth	Westminster Academy, Webster, TX

39.	Black Patch	100th Bomber Group, Hot Springs, AR

40.	Dried Red Rose	Rose Parade, Pasadena, CA

41.	24"x16" White and Orange Flag	California Institute of Technology Geological and Planetary Sciences, Pasadena, CA

42.	White T-shirt	Winston Churchill HIgh School, Eugene, OR

43.	Slice of Meteorite	University of Hawaii Pacific Regional Planetary Data Center, Honolulu, HI

44.	14"x15" Grey Octagonal Banner	Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA

45.	Maroon T-Shirt	University of Washington Astronomy Department, Seattle, WA

46.	50 Year Anniversary Gold Resin Medallion	California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA

47.	3'x5' School Banner	Crest Drive Elementary School, Eugene, OR

48.	29"x11" Black Pennant	ABC College of Tae Kwon Do, Houston, TX

49.	33"x23" Scarf	Seattle Lunar Group, Seattle, WA

50.	3'x5' Blue Flag	City of Lynchburg, Lynchburg, VA

51.	27"x30" White Banner	University of Richmond, Richmond, VA

52.	White T-Shirt	University of Richmond Department of Chemistry, Richmond, VA

53.	25"x19" Thin Canvas Banner	Heritage High School, Lynchburg, VA

54.	Grey T-Shirt	Perrymont Elementary School, Lynchburg, VA

55.	3'x5' Fabric Patchwork Quilt	Project Row Houses, Houston, TX

56.	Deflated Football	University of Richmond Athletic Department, Richmond, VA

57.	Wooden Flame Design in Plastic Coating	Lakewood Church, Houston, TX

58.	Small Electrochemical Cell with Probe	University of Virginia Materials Science and Engineering Physics, Richmond, VA

59.	School Note Card	Dunbar Middle School, Lynchburg, VA

60.	Blue Pilot Cap	Lufthansa Airline, Frankfurt, Germany

61.	Bronze College Medal of Honor	Universitat Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany

62.	Small Red T-shirt	Falcon Pass Elementary School, Houston, TX

63.	Metal Paperweight	RWTH University, Aachen, Germany

64.	Small Stuffed Lion Mascot	Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, Ornabruck, Germany

65.	White Cloth with Columbus Module Picture	Col-Control Center, Cologne, Germany

66.	Metal Square with Insignia	Boy Scouts of America Pack 848, Clear Lake City, TX

67.	8.5"x5.5" Photograph	Deutsche Raumfahrtsausstellung, Morgenrothe-Rautenkranz, Germany

68.	Bronze Medallion	City of Aachen, Aachen, Germany

69.	White Polo Shirt	Armand Bayou Montessori School, Houston, TX

70.	Gold Astronaut Pin	Agency Presentation

71.	Gold Astronaut Pin	Agency Presentation

72.	Gold Astronaut Pin	Agency Presentation

73.	Gold Astronaut Pin	Agency Presentation

74.	Gold Astronaut Pin	Agency Presentation

75.	Gold Astronaut Pin	Agency Presentation

76.	Gold Navy Astronaut Pilot Wings	Agency Presentation

Items 77 through 80 are manifested at the request of the STS-122 payload customers.

77.	200 ISS-1E Patches 190 ISS IE Pins 25 ISS MER Patches 25 ISS Vehicle Office Patches	ISS Payload Integration Presentation Items
78.	150 ESA Columbus Fabric Patches 280 ESA EADS Postcards 1 ESA MARS Pulcinella Ceramic Figure 11 ESA MARS Decals 21 ESA BIOTESC Decals 1 European Space Policy Document 20 ESA CADMOS French 50th Space Anniversary Certificates 10 ESA CADMOS Children's Pamphlets 7 ESA CADMOS Decals 1 ESA Erasmus Flag 20 ESA N-USOC Rectangular Decals 60 ESA EMCS Round Decals 2 ESA E-USOC Medals 2 ESA E-USOC Fabric Patches 20 Medium ESA Flags 500 Small EADS Flight Mission Certificates	European Space Agency Presentation Items
79.	325 STS-122 Pins 200 CMC ICC-Lite Pins	ISS Payload Customer Presentation Items
80.	25 RAMBO Patches 25 MAUI Patches 300 Sheets of Bookmarks	Space Shuttle Program Presentation Items