NASA has a long history of bringing mementos from Earth aboard space shuttles to drum up interest for the sometimes painfully slow process of constructing the orbiting International Space Station. In June the space shuttle Atlantis returned to Earth with an artifact from the 17th-century American settlement of Jamestown to celebrate the 400th anniversary of its founding.
Now NASA is celebrating a more recent occasion – the 30th anniversary of Star Wars – by sending the original lightsaber prop used by Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in the 1977 film aboard the space shuttle Discovery in October.
Source: cbc.ca
The lightsaber will be on display at the visitor complex at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston through Labor Day. Then it will be shipped to Kennedy Space Center and packed into Discovery's mid-deck.NASA spokesman James Hartsfield said the sci-fi sword would remain stowed throughout the shuttle's 13-day mission.
NASA sets aside a small amount of space on every mission for commemorative items and artifacts.
A piece of fabric from the Orville and Wilbur
Wright's airplane flew on Discovery in 2000. A cargo tag and coins from
historic Jamestown flew in June aboard Atlantis. Some of the cremated
remains of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the TV series Star Trek, launched aboard Columbia in 1992.
Source: usatoday.com
Tags: American | anniversary | Atlantis | CARGO | celebrate | Columbia | FOUNDING | Jamestown | lightsaber | Luke Skywalker | Mark Hamill | NASA | occasion | orbiting | Shuttle | star trek | star wars
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