What's Going Up?

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What's Going Up?
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NARRATOR: Space shuttle Endeavour's symbolic reach will be felt worldwide with hundreds of commemorative items packed inside the spacecraft for the STS-123 mission.

Endeavour will deliver new segments to the International Space Station, but it is hundreds of small items that give people on the ground a tangible symbol of space travel.

There are scores of Japanese flags symbolizing the launch of the first element of that nation's "Kibo" laboratory.

Canadian flags celebrate the deployment of Dextre, a robotic hand of sorts that Canada built to complement the Canadarm 2 on the station.

There are also Dextre and Kibo program patches and pins.

The crew also is carrying dozens of symbols representing their own goals achieved including a Navy silver star collar insignia. Their choices also highlight the groups or organizations that helped them along the way.

Schools in Massachusetts, Texas, Maryland and Japan are represented with items ranging from a rainbow-striped writing pen to pins to a handkerchief.

A white-and-purple playing card will orbit for more than two weeks courtesy of STS-123. The card is for the American Contract Bridge League of Memphis, Tennessee.

Even a library card will get to experience weightlessness on the mission.

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