Far Out – NPS Travels To Space

No one has traveled further in support of the National Park Service than astronaut Megan McArthur. McArthur recently carried a custom made NPS banner 5.3 million miles aboard space shuttle flight STS-125 Atlantis.

On July 24th, McArthur presented the banner, along with a commemorative plaque, to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Acting NPS Director Dan Wenk during a ceremony held in the Secretary’s Office.

Each astronaut is allowed to take a few mementoes of personal relevance into space. “After honoring the schools I’ve attended, the next thing I thought of was the National Park Service,” said McArthur. She contacted the agency which provided a banner with a map of the U.S. pinpointing the location of all 391 NPS sites. “I love the parks and I was proud to carry this banner with me. I want you to know how much the park service means to me and I will always do what I can to highlight parks.”

McArthur has been a fan of parks since a family vacation to Yellowstone at an early age. “Thank you for the work you do to inspire kids and get them outdoors,” she said. “I have the privilege of being a professional explorer and my spirit of exploration was really fostered by visits to national parks. I was one of those little kids that always wanted to be the first to reach the top of the mountain to see what was on the other side,” she recalled.

McArthur and her husband, also an astronaut, visit parks as often as they can. From space she spotted Big Bend, her “local” park. They usually get to Big Bend at least once a year, even though it’s a ten hour drive from their Houston base. “Backpacking in parks is really my favorite thing to do whenever I have time,” she said.

McArthur served as a mission specialist on STS-125 Atlantis from May 11th to May 24th. The crew’s job was to service and repair the 19 year old Hubble Space Telescope. In addition to serving as a flight engineer during the launch and landing, McArthur operated the robotic arm that had to grab the free-flying satellite and lock it down while traveling 17,500 miles per hour. She also controlled the 50-foot arm while spacewalkers delicately installed new scientific instruments, batteries, cameras, gyroscopes, and a computer. The refurbished telescope should now function through 2014. 

As she orbited the earth 197 times during the flight, McArthur was able to observe different aspects of her favorite planet. She shared a sunset photograph she shot that shows the glow of the thin layer of atmosphere that surrounds the earth. She expressed gratitude to the NPS for “all the work you do to protect our planet because, as the picture demonstrates, it’s a beautiful but really fragile place.”