Last updated: November 17, 2022
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50 Nifty Finds #2: An Out-of-This World Pin
The National Park Service (NPS) celebrated its 100th anniversary on August 25, 2016, with a big bang. The NPS, its partners, and the public were excited by special events that took flight for the centennial, including the launch of the Find Your Park campaign. Gaining momentum, the NPS created a special centennial badge that employees could wear with their uniforms. The US Postal Service’s 16 national park postage stamps really took off, and the US Mint’s commemorative coins shined brightly. A galaxy of boosters made commemorative merchandise and advertised their love of national parks and the NPS. It was definitely a party atmosphere!
So, what makes this pin so special within the universe of NPS Centennial celebrations? Let’s probe a little deeper.
In a December 5, 2014, memorandum, NPS Director Jon Jarvis called the NPS Centennial pin “the first of the centennial in hand.” They were paid for by the National Park Foundation and distributed to every NPS employee. Both uniformed and non-uniformed employees could wear them. Later, volunteers and contractors could purchase them as well. Authority to wear the centennial pin sunset on December 31, 2016.
Although thousands of these NPS Centennial pins were made, this particular pin eclipsed all others with its meteoric rise into space, courtesy of our friends at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
A certificate of authenticity from NASA documents the pin’s journey on Expeditions 44/45. It reads:
This National Park Service pin was flown for Director Jon Jarvis in celebration of the National Park Service Centennial. NASA Astronaut Kjell Lindgren, Japanese Astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Russian Cosmonaut Oleg Konenenko launched about the Soyuz TMA-17M from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on July 22, 2015. After 141 days in space, the crew undocked from the International Space Station and landed on the Kazakh steppe northeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan on December 11, 2015.
This pin launched and returned to Earth with the crew aboard the Soyuz TMA-17M. It spent 141 days in space, orbited the Earth 2,256 times at an altitude of 250 statute miles and traveled 59.6 million miles at 17,500 miles per hour.
Doesn’t that just make your head spin?
Back on Earth, Astronaut Kjell Lindgren returned the centennial pin to Director Jarvis on April 27, 2016, during an event at the Department of Interior in Washington, DC. Lindgren also accepted the Honorary Park Ranger Award presented to the NASA Astronaut Office for giving the NPS Centennial celebrations an out-of-this world start.
