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Klingon, cookies and class project fly with Discovery (STS-131 OFK)

April 7, 2010

— A "flat" paper doll, a freshly-baked batch of wedding cookies, a cartoon dog, and patches inscribed with a sci-fi alien language are packed among the 17,000 pounds of science experiments, equipment, and supplies that were delivered by shuttle Discovery early Wednesday to the International Space Station (ISS).

Lighting the predawn sky as it lifted off on Monday at 6:21 a.m. EDT (1021 GMT), Discovery launched the STS-131 crew on a 13-day mission to the orbiting laboratory, where they'll perform three spacewalks and move equipment into and out of a moving van module called Leonardo. Led by commander Alan Poindexter, Discovery's crew arrived at the station at 3:44 a.m. EDT (0744 GMT) Wednesday.

The seven astronauts — the shuttle's last full contingent as the fleet's remaining three planned missions are set to fly with one empty seat each — have packed on Discovery mementos and creature comforts to bring a bit of home to the station. They'll return to Earth with many of the same souvenirs to share space with those on the ground.

Sandtarts for the spaceman

One special care package, flown at the request of station resident T.J. Creamer, will be lucky if it lasts the full day let alone remain when Discovery departs for Earth.

Having just this past week marked his 100th day in space as a flight engineer for the station's 23rd expedition crew, it's understandable why Creamer might be eager a taste of home — and that is exactly what the STS-131 crew has for him.

Fulfilling a request Creamer made before he launched last December, Discovery is delivering cookies from an Italian restaurant he frequented while training at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The wedding-style cookies were specially prepared for spaceflight by Bessilyn Piazza, who continues to follow her late mother's recipe while baking the sandtarts at the Italian Cafe in Seabrook for more than 20 years.

"It will be the perfect tribute to my mother," Piazza said in a press release issued before Discovery's launch. "I know how proud she would be to see her sandtarts travel into space."

Contacted by NASA to provide samples for the standard pre-flight testing that all 'space food' undergoes, Piazza ended up making just one change to the cookies at the space agency's request: reducing the amount of powdered sugar that normally coats each sandtart.

Still, the half-dollar size pastries are bound to be a sweet treat for Creamer and his crewmates. The experience has been sweet for Piazza, too.

"My feet haven't touched the ground since I received the news," said Piazza. "This is something I never dreamed would happen. I'm still on cloud nine."

Flight's fifth female and first doggie

Not all of Discovery's "sweet" deliveries are edible.

Dorothy "Dottie" Metcalf-Lindenburger, who together with fellow STS-131 mission specialists Stephanie Wilson and Naoko Yamazaki as well as Expedition 23 flight engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson have established the record for the most women astronauts in space at one time, has tucked inside her notebook the crew's honorary fifth female.

Standing just seven inches tall and less than one-tenth of a millimeter thick, "Flat Marie" is the paper doll creation of 5-year-old Marie Plowman. A pre-school student at First Presbyterian Christian School in Spokane, Washington, the real Marie created her flat self as a part of her class's "Flat Stanley" project based on the 1964 children's book by the same title. In the book, author Jeff Brown shares the story of Stanley, who's flattened and then embarks on adventures by being mailed in an envelope.

Metcalf-Lindenburger, a teacher herself who was selected with NASA's 2004 educator-astronaut class, is connected with Marie through her friendship with the child's maternal grandfather, a retired history professor at Whitman College where Metcalf-Lindenburger graduated.

Marie's mother originally e-mailed Metcalf-Lindenburger to ask if she would share some of her training experiences.

"She e-mailed right back and said that she would not only be willing to do that but that she would be happy to take 'Flat Marie' along on the mission as well," said Stephanie Plowman in an interview with The Spokesman-Review.

"Flat Marie" is not the only two-dimensional character on the shuttle.

Clayton Anderson, a fellow STS-131 mission specialist, is flying "Dogie the Doggie," the childhood comic creation of cartoonist Jeff Koterba. Anderson reached out to Koterba after seeing an editorial cartoon Koterba drew about him for The Omaha World-Herald newspaper in Nebraska.

"Last fall [Anderson] invited me to draw two cartoons that he could take on the the shuttle," Koterba explained in an interview with the Political Cartoon Index, a website about editorial cartoons, adding that one would be given to the World-Herald and the other he would keep. "The cartoon for myself has to do with Dogie the Doggie."

The one-frame comic, which depicts the spacesuited dog "Dogie" thinking "I finally made it..." while spacewalking outside the shuttle, features Koterba's version of another famous comic strip dog.

"Dogie the Doggie was my childhood answer to Snoopy," Koterba told interviewer Rob Tornoe, "created in response to my father who didn't believe I should just be copying characters out of the comics pages."

Window cling-on Klingon

'Copying characters' is exactly what Tony Boatright did to design part of NASA's patch for the Window Observational Research Facility, a science equipment rack flying aboard Discovery that once installed on the station's Destiny lab science window will enable astronaut-tended and remote- controlled Earth-observation experiments.

Recognizing that the rack's acronym — WORF — was the name given to a character, Lt. Commander Worf, on the sci-fi television series "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "Deep Space Nine," Boatright had the idea to use the fictional security officer's native alien language, Klingon, on the emblem.

He contacted Star Trek executive producer Rick Berman's office to make certain that he "wouldn't violate any Star Trek canon."

"We agreed on the Klingon Klinshai, or Mandel, script that had appeared in 'The U.S.S. Enterprise Officer's Manual'... to spell out the name W-O-R-F," Boatright explained in a discussion forum post he made on collectSPACE.com.

Boatright, who was a member of the WORF development team when he designed the patch in 2001, is proud of the final result.

"[By] late next week, I'll have my art (via a WORF sticker on the front of the rack) on permanent display in a fairly exclusive orbital gallery," he wrote.

More of Boatright's WORF patches are stowed inside the STS-131 Official Flight Kit (OFK), a stash of souvenirs to be distributed to team members and other organizations after Discovery returns to Earth.

Among those other items in the OFK are hundreds of the STS-131 mission patch as designed by NASA artist Cindy Busch under the lead of Metcalf-Lindenburger, as well as the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) patch for crew member Yamazaki.

The latter, a tear-drop shape patch, features multi-colored four-leaf clovers and a rainbow stretching from the space station to Mars.

"For me it represents that space holds a lot of possibilities for the future. I hope we'll continue dreaming about space, and it is that hope that is [symbolized] in the patch," said Yamazaki in an interview with collectSPACE.

 


The space shuttle Discovery, as seen from the International Space Station, with the Leonardo module in its payload bay. (NASA)



To prepare her sandtarts for spaceflight, Bessilyn Piazza had to go lighter on the powdered sugar coating. (The Italian Cafe)



Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger poses with a "Flat Stanley" doll like the "Flat Marie" that launched with her into space. (NASA)



Cartoonist Jeff Koterba's "Dogie the Doggie" features in one of two, one-frame cartoons flying with Discovery. (Jeff Koterba)



Tony Boatright's WORF artwork is shown affixed to the front of the Window Operational Research Facility. (NASA/Boatright)



The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) patch for STS-131 mission specialist Naoko Yamazaki. (JAXA)

The STS-131 Official Flight Kit Manifest

The following is the STS-131 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.

 

  1. 625 STS-131 crew patches

  2. 75 Expedition 23 patches

  3. 75 Expedition 24 patches

 

Agency Presentation

2.

 

800 Small United States Flags

 

Agency Presentation

3.

 

5 Sets U.S. States & Territories Flags

 

Agency Presentation

4.

 

5 Sets United Nations Members Flags

 

Agency Presentation

5.

 

  1. 20 Small Texas Flags

  2. 5 Small NASA Flags

  3. 5 NASA Patches

  4. 1 Large (3") JSC Medallion

  5. 6 Small (2") JSC Medallions

  6. 2 Bronze NASA Seal Medallion

  7. 1 Silver Shuttle Pendant

 

Agency Presentation

6.

 

5 Small (4"x6") State Flags:

  1. Maryland

  2. Florida

  3. California

  4. Oregon

  5. Washington

  6. Massachusetts

  7. South Carolina

  8. Georgia

 

Agency Presentation

7.

 

10 Small (4"x6") State Flags:

  1. Nebraska

  2. Connecticut

  3. Colorado

 

Agency Presentation

8.

 

2 Small Flags of the Following Countries:

  1. Slovenia

  2. Zambia

  3. United Kingdom

  4. Tunisia

 

Agency Presentation

9.

 

  1. 25 Small (4"x6") Flags of Japan

  2. 5 Small (4"x6") JAXA Flags

 

Agency Presentation

10.

 

Small (4"x6") Military Flags:

  1. 10 U.S. Air Force

  2. 10 U.S. Army

  3. 10 U.S. Coast Guard

  4. 10 U.S. Marine Corps

  5. 10 U.S. Navy

 

Agency Presentation

11.

 

  1. 10 Small United States Flags

  2. 10 Small Alabama State Flags

 

Marshall Space Flight Center Presentation

12.

 

  1. 10 Small Louisiana State Flags

  2. 10 Small Mississippi State Flags

  3. 5 Small NASA Flags

  4. 5 Small United States Flags

 

Stennis Space Center Presentation

13.

 

  1. 5 Small United States Flags

  2. 5 Small Florida State Flags

 

Kennedy Space Center Presentation

14.

 

200 Silver Snoopy Pins

 

Space Flight Awareness Presentation

 

15.

 

25 EVA Patches

 

Agency Presentation

16.

 

  1. 10 STS-131 Crew Patches

  2. 14 Small U.S. flags

  3. 10 DoD Space Test Program Patches

  4. 10 Space Development & Test Wing Coins

  5. 16 Military Insignia

  6. 3 USAF Retired Lapel Pins

  7. 1 Master Space Operations Badge

  8. 1 160th Special Ops Aviation Regiment Patch

 

DoD Presentation

17.

 

Hold

 

Johnson Space Center Presentation

 

18.

 

25 COD Patches

 

Center Operations Directorate Presentation

 

19.

 

25 Mission Operations Patches

 

Mission Operation Directorate Presentation

 

20.

 

100 Small Metal Shuttle Tokens

 

Agency Presentation

 

Items 21 through 95 are manifested at the request of the STS-131 crewmembers.

 

21.

 

Gold College Seal with Ribbons

 

Pensacola Junior College, Pensacola, FL

 

22.

 

Navy, White and Gold Centennial Medallion

 

Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA

 

23.

 

Gold, Navy and Yellow Squadron Medallion

 

Blue Angels, Pensacola, FL

 

24.

 

Pewter Medallion on Blue Display Card

 

Wootten High School, Rockville, MD

 

25.

 

5"x8" White and Green School Flag

 

Coronado High School, Coronado, CA

 

26.

 

White T-Shirt

 

The Laura Ingraham Show, Washington, DC

 

27.

 

10.5"x14.5" Car Pennant

 

Georgia Tech Aerospace and Engineering, Atlanta, GA

 

28.

 

3'x5' White, Red and Black Flag

 

VFA-211 Navy Squadron, Virginia Beach, VA

 

29.

 

Black T-Shirt

 

British Broadcasting Company, London, UK

 

30.

 

Squadron Patch

 

493rd Fighter Squadron, RAF Lakenheath, UK

 

31.

 

4.5"x6.5" Red, White and Blue Country Flag

 

Trencin Cultural Center, Trencin, Slovakia

 

32.

 

3.5"x8" Wood Shingle

 

F-22nd Combined Test Force, Edwards, CA

 

33.

 

Gold Ring

 

University of Oregon, Eugene, OR

 

34.

 

2'x4' White Cloth Banner

 

Meadowlark Elementary School, Eugene, OR

 

35.

 

Squadron Patch

 

114th Fighter Squadron, Klamath Falls, OR

 

36.

 

Purple and Yellow Mascot Costume

 

411th Flight Test Squadron, Edwards, CA

 

37.

 

Squadron Patch

 

40th Flight Test Squadron, Eglin, AFB, FL

 

38.

 

Squadron Patch

 

Edwards AFB, CA

 

39.

 

2'x4' White and Green Flag

 

Sheldon High School, Eugene, OR

 

40.

 

2'x3' Black and White Fabric Banner

 

University of Connecticut School of Engineering, Storrs, CT

 

41.

 

2'x3' Blue and White Banner

 

University of Connecticut Athletic Dept., Storrs, CT

 

42.

 

1.5'x2' White and BLue Vinyl Banner

 

Tyrrell Middle School, Wolcott, CT

 

43.

 

White and Orange T-Shirt

 

New Hartford School, New Hartford, CT

 

44.

 

Blue and White T-Shirt

 

Noah Wallace Middle School, Farmington, CT

 

45.

 

Red Bandana

 

EVA Group, Houston, TX

 

46.

 

1'x5' White, Navy and Green Vinyl Banner

 

Bentley Group, Houston, TX

 

47.

 

Black Metal Bracelet

 

336th Fighter Squadron, Seymour Johnson AFB, NC

 

48.

 

Squadron Patch

 

557th Flight Test Squadron, Edwards AFB, CA

 

49.

 

Black Lapel Pin

 

Manned Rocket Project, Chiba, Japan

 

50.

 

1'x2' Navy and Orange Pennant

 

Evanston Township High School, IL

 

51.

 

Blue and White T-Shirt

 

Creekside Intermediate School, League City, TX

 

52.

 

Gray School T-Shirt

 

Stansberry Elementary School, Loveland, CO

 

53.

 

13"x19" Class Photo on Canvas

 

Armand Bayou Montesson School, Houston, TX

 

54.

 

14"x14" Tan Cloth Quilting Square

 

Autism Research Institute, San Diego, CA

 

55.

 

Black T-Shirt

 

Boltz Junior High School, Fort Collins, CO

 

56.

 

2"x7" Wood "Peace Pole"

 

Bennett World School, Fort Collins, CO

 

57.

 

Gray and Red T-Shirt

 

McLoughlin Middle School, Vancouver, WA

 

58.

 

Blue and White T-Shirt

 

Shepardson Elementary School, Fort Collins, CO

 

59.

 

9"x18" Gold and Black Pennant

 

Hudson's Bay High School, Vancouver, WA

 

60.

 

1'x1.5' Black and Gold Cloth

 

Ambassadors Preparatory Academy, Galveston, TX

 

61.

 

1.5'x2' White and Navy Flag

 

Shorter University, Rome, GA

 

62.

 

Red, Black and Gold T-Shirt

 

Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary, Beaumont, TX

 

63.

 

Yellow and Navy T-Shirt

 

Missouri City Middle School, Missouri City, TX

 

64.

 

White T-Shirt

 

Boys and Girls Club, Pittsfield, MA

 

65.

 

3'x5' Navy and Gold Flag

 

Dearborn Middle School, Roxbury, MA

 

66.

 

White and Purple T-Shirt

 

Paul Quinn College, Dallas, TX

 

67.

 

8.5"x11" Blue Paper

 

Reedy Chapel AME Church, Houston, TX

 

68.

 

2'x3' Blue Flag

 

All Nippon Kuutei Doushikai, Tokyo, Japan

 

69.

 

Packet of Seeds

 

Matsudo City, Chiba, Japan

 

70.

 

1'x1.5' Purple Flag

 

Ochanomizu University Senior High School, Tokyo, Japan

 

71.

 

8"x8" White, Blue and Brown Cloth

 

The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

 

72.

 

Packet of Seeds

 

Young Astronauts Club, Kanagawa, Japan

 

73.

 

2'x3' Beige and Black Flag

 

Kamakura City, Kanagawa, Japan

 

74.

 

15" Blue, Gold and Black Patch

 

Tokai University, Tokyo, Japan

 

75.

 

Packet of Seeds

 

Elementary School at Kamaura, Kanagawa, Japan

 

76.

 

1'x5' Black Cloth

 

Montessori School of Downtown, Clear Lake, TX

 

77.

 

1.5x2' White and Red Flag

 

Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office, Tokyo, Japan

 

78.

 

4"x6"x3" Deflated Blue Globe

 

Secretariat of Strategic Headquarters for Space Policy, Tokyo, Japan

 

79.

 

Patch

 

U.S. Navy, Bangor, Washington

 

80.

 

Red, White and Blue Tie

 

Nebraska Press Association, Lincoln, NE

 

81.

 

Gold Ornament

 

Willow Point Museum, Ashland, NE

 

82.

 

5"x7" Photo

 

Nebraska Education TV, Lincoln, NE

 

83.

 

2'x3' Red and White Flag

 

Hastings College, Hastings, NE

 

84.

 

Tan Baseball Cap

 

National Collegiate Athletic Assoc., Kansas City, MO

 

85.

 

White T-Shirt

 

Children's Hospital, Omaha, NE

 

86.

 

Gold, Red and White Medallion

 

Strategic Air and Space Museum, Ashland, NE

 

87.

 

3'x5' Gold and Red State Flag

 

Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa

 

88.

 

8.5"x11" Watercolor Cartoon

 

Omaha World Herald, Omaha, NE

 

89.

 

Gold Astronaut Pin

 

Agency Presentation

 

90.

 

Silver Astronaut Wings

 

Agency Presentation

 

91.

 

Gold Astronaut Pin

 

Agency Presentation

 

92.

 

Gold Astronaut Pin

 

Agency Presentation

 

93.

 

Gold Astronaut Pin

 

Agency Presentation

 

94.

 

Gold Astronaut Pin

 

Agency Presentation

 

95.

 

Gold Astronaut Pin

 

Agency Presentation

 

Items 96 through 118 are manifested at the request of the Space Shuttle Program Office and Payload Customers.

 

96.

 

366 Sheets of Bookmarks

 

Space Shuttle Program (SSP) Presentation

 

97.

 

  1. 10 Space Test Program (STP) Pins

  2. 10 STP Patches DELETE

  3. 3 STP Patches

  4. 50 STP Space Tissue Loss (STL) Payload Patches

  5. 170 STP STL Payload Decals

 

DoD Presentation

98.

 

4 Boy Scouts of America Centennial Patches

 

International Space Station Program Presentation

 

99.

 

  1. 140 Small (4"x6") Flags of Japan

  2. 140 Small (4"x6") JAXA Flags

  3. 70 JAXA Expedition 22/23 Patches DELETE

  4. 70 JAXA STS-131 Mission Patches

  5. 70 JAXA Expedition 22/23 Pins DELETE

 

ISSP/JAXA Presentation

100.

 

100 Multi-Purpose Logistics Mission Pins

 

ISSP Presentation

 

101.

 

100 Launch Package Manager Patches

 

ISSP Presentation

 

102.

 

50 Capillary Flow Experiments Patches

 

ISSP Presentation

 

103.

 

25 LADA VPU Payload Patches DELETE

 

ISSP Presentation

 

104.

 

100 STS-131 Mission Patches

 

ISSP Presentation

 

105.

 

20 WORF Patches

 

ISS Presentation

 

106.

 

7 Kentucky Flag Patches

 

ISS Presentation

 

107.

 

30 Nanoracks Decals

 

ISS Presentation

 

108.

 

24 MERLIN Patches

 

ISS Presentation

 

109.

 

12 Cardiovascular Patches

 

ISS Presentation

 

110.

 

50 Cardiovascular Decals

 

ISS Presentation

 

111.

 

50 Capillary Flow Experiments Decals

 

ISS Presentation

 

112.

 

50 POIC Decals

 

ISS Presentation

 

113.

 

10 CSA Patches

 

ISS Presentation

 

114.

 

30 Apex-Cambium Decals

 

ISS Presentation

 

115.

 

16 CSA Pins

 

ISS Presentation

 

116.

 

100 CUCU Patches

 

ISS Presentation

 

117.

 

49 TriDAR Patches

 

ISS Presentation

 

118.

 

  1. 1250 ISS Pins

  2. 682 ISS Flags

 

ISS Presentation


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