posted 05-27-2008 09:01 PM               

collectSPACE will present the full OFK manifest after Discovery docks with the ISS, including commentary about the mementos by the crew.

posted 05-29-2008 09:09 PM               

Each crew member is permitted to carry a few small personal items that are packed into lockers before the launch. STS-124 Pilot Ken Ham is responsible for the entertainment - CDs of the ESPN Radio show "Mike and Mike in the Morning." Ham is also expected to talk to hosts Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg from space towards the end of his mission to the International Space Station.

A plastic microphone stand with the ESPN logo is also making the trip.

Discovery's crew will sport a number of athletic items as it embarks on its mission to deliver the Japanese Kibo laboratory's main module.

A yellow jersey from Lance Armstrong's record-setting seven victories at the Tour de France bicycle race, the backup jersey Eli Manning took to the Super Bowl, and the last jersey baseball's Craig Biggio wore in a game have places inside the orbiting locker room.

posted 05-30-2008 04:03 AM               

Green letters, a white background and a curled orange flame.

The image has seen thousands come and go on the UND campus and traveled across the world on student and alumni T-shirts, sweatshirts and sports gear. But the school will cross another frontier this weekend when NASA astronaut and 1994 UND mechanical engineering graduate Karen Nyberg takes a flag bearing the UND logo into space.

Nyberg, 38, is scheduled to lift off Saturday on a 14-day NASA mission to deliver portions of the new Japanese-designed Kibo Laboratory to the International Space Station.

The UND flag Nyberg will carry is a standard issue 3-by-5-foot model provided by the school's facilities department, said Amanda Hvidsten, director of alumni relations with the UND Alumni Association, who made many of the arrangements.

Nyberg has signed the flag, Hvidsten said, and she believes the rest of the seven-person crew has as well. At some point, the flag will make its way back to UND to be put on display, she said.

posted 06-04-2008 08:06 AM               

Armstrong and Buzz are in space again, though they aren't the Apollo astronauts who made history walking on the Moon.

Rather, cyclist Lance Armstrong and 'space ranger' Buzz Lightyear are sharing space aboard shuttle Discovery, now docked to the International Space Station. And they are not alone; joining them for the 14-day mission are retired Houston Astros' player Craig Biggio and New York Giants' quarterback Eli Manning.

Of course, none of the individuals (and fictional character) are themselves in space, but the crew of STS-124 chose to take items representing each of them aboard the orbiter.

posted 06-11-2008 11:11 PM               

What does Navy Commander Kenneth Ham drink after a space mission? Schramsberg. A fan of the Napa Valley winery, Ham will be the first astronaut to take Schramsberg into space -- or at least part of it. Ham will fly with labels and corks from the venerable sparkling wine producer on the Space Shuttle Discovery's STS-124 mission scheduled to launch May 31, 2008.

With over 3,700 flight hours in more than 40 different aircraft, Ham will pilot the Discovery on a mission described by NASA as, "the second of three flights that will launch components to complete the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo [Japanese for hope] laboratory". The 14-day flight will carry the largest payload to-date to the station and will include three spacewalks.

According to the facts and figures provided by NASA, the STS-124 is the 123rd space shuttle flight, the 26th flight to the station, the 35th flight for Discovery and the third flight in 2008.

This will be the first space shuttle flight for Schramsberg, and has been in the works for several months since Ham and his wife, Michelle, visited the winery last year. Each astronaut is allowed a small stash of personal items to accompany them into space, and while Ham's fellow astronauts predominantly chose sports memorabilia, Ham chose Schramsberg labels and corks.

"We are thrilled to have our labels and corks go on the space shuttle with Ken," vintner Hugh Davies says, "We love that our American sparkling wine will become a part of American history and we are all ready looking forward to Ken's next visit to the winery after his return to earth."

posted 08-02-2008 07:47 AM               

Post flight, the OFK office put together an amazing presentation collage that included the badge, a flown mission patch and a certificate of authenticity. The collage sketch, if you will, is shown below:

The certificate is a bit hard to read, so the text is as follows:

Presented to H.M.S. HOOD ASSOCIATION

From the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

This STS-124 Crew Patch and H.M.S. Hood Blazer Badge were flown aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station during STS-124, May 31 – June 14, 2008, traveling 5,661,398 statute miles in 216 orbits around the Earth.