SPACE SHUTTLE'S IRISH PAYLOAD
SPACE SHUTTLE'S IRISH PAYLOAD
The next NASA Space Shuttle Mission, scheduled for launch on April 3rd, will carry among its payload two Irish mementos: a pennant of the South-West of Ireland Golf Company (SWING) and a medallion featuring the famous Irish 19th century emigrant ship, the Jeanie Johnston (1847-58). Both were put on display at Iveagh House today (Tuesday) by the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dick Spring. T.D., in the presence of US Ambassador, Mrs Jean Kennedy Smith, prior to their dispatch to the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The pennant and medallion will be brought into space by Lt. Jim Halsell, an astronaut of Irish descent, who is commanding the space shuttle Columbia, for the first microgravity science laboratory (MSL-1) spacelab mission.
The pennant, measuring 5' x 2' features the coats of arms of the nine major championship courses of Ballybunion, Tralee, Lahinch, Killarney, Waterville, Dingle, Dooks, Dromoland and Shannon and the logos of SWING sponsors the Kerry Group, Delta Air Lines, Waterford Crystal, Bank of Ireland and Shannon Development.
The medallion in sterling silver has, on its face, a representation of the Jeanie Johnston emigrant barque which never lost a passenger on 16 voyages from Tralee to Baltimore, New York and Quebec during the Famine years and the inscription "I gCuimhne an Ghorta Mhóir"
(Remembering the Great Famine). On the obverse side is the crest of the Space Shuttle Mission STS-83.
Commander Halsell, who has travelled over Ireland more than 360 times on his two previous shuttle missions, has yet to visit the country. Visiting Ireland is one of his great ambitions, according to Tánaiste Dick Spring, who has invited him to Ireland. He now hopes to visit later in the summer when he plans a few rounds of golf in the south-west and a visit to the Jeanie Johnston shipyard near Tralee, where a replica of the famous ship is being built.Top
