Smiley Elementary School students will tag along in spirit on a space voyage when the space shuttle Discovery lifts off. The shuttle had been scheduled to launch Friday, but its final planned mission has been delayed several times and, according to a NASA statement issued Friday afternoon, the earliest that Discovery can now launch following repairs to its leaky ground umbilical carrier plate is Monday.
When the shuttle does make its way into outer space, it will carry with it the signatures of SES students. The children signed a poster in May as part of the national Student Signatures in Space program, Smiley teacher Steve Caphton said. He sent the poster to Lockheed Martin, which partnered with NASA on the project, and the poster was digitally reproduced. The signatures will be aboard Discovery when it lifts off.
When Discovery returns to Earth, the poster that Smiley Elementary School submitted will be returned to the school along with a photo of the astronaut crew who flew the mission and a certificate from NASA verifying that the students’ signatures were flown in space.