What was the object the astronauts saw? Do they still take souvenir stuff into space?

Do astronauts still take souvenir or memorabilia stuff into space then bring it back to earth for friends, family, sponsors, etc.? Maybe that would explain the unidentified object about a foot to a foot-and-a-half long the astronauts reported floating away from the shuttle as they did their routine check for landing on Saturday.

Uh, excuse me -- an unidentified flying object? Isn't that the actual definition of a UFO??

If it were small and sparkly, you might think it perhaps ice crystals, maybe angel feathers or something. (Kidding.) Or perhaps something sparkly and shiny would be some gold chain from a family member, girlfriend, or celebrity friend of one of those celebrity astronauts. Ah, well, my age is showing now -- "celebrity astronaut"? Sure, back in the 1960s astronauts were celebrities, were famous enough that the general public knew their names and some of their history. (Remember the book and movie, "The Right Stuff"?)

Nowadays, most people couldn't name a single space shuttle astronaut. No John Glenn, no Alan Shepard, nobody, really, that the average American would know.

We've long ago lost the glamor that was in the U.S. space program. We don't think of them as "rocket ships," with all the mythical aura of ancient sailing ships venturing into the unknown. They are "shuttles," like something we'd take every day back and forth to work.

Maybe angel feathers and celebrity gold chains belong in that mythological past we set aside when the Apollo program ended. Maybe unidentified object, sort of a ho-hum generic nothing, really is fitting for the space program we have today.
[tags]U.S. space program, space shuttle, astronauts, just a guy who reads the papers[/tags]

June 13, 2008 | Filed Under Science News