In follow up to my NASA Goodies post, I found out who was responsible for sending the surprise package to my four-year-old. Our friend Craig asked his friend, Astronaut Andrew Feustal, to send her something from NASA. Dr. Feustal was kind enough to take time out of his mission preparation to send her autographed photographs with a personalized note addressed to her, an STS-125 crew patch, a sticker, and a pin. She shows them to everybody who comes over to our house.
Geophysicist Andrew Feustal will be making his first trip into space as a member of the STS-125 crew aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. He will take part in the final shuttle service mission to Hubble Telescope, which is scheduled for early October 2008. You may click on the following links to learn more about NASA’s Hubble Telescope Servicing Mission 4 or about the STS-125 Mission and information about the crew.
Our friend Craig is the inspiration behind our four-year-old’s interest in balancing her astronaut career with a secondary career as a race car driver. Craig Hampson is the lead engineer for Newman-Haas Racing. She gets a kick out of watching the races and seeing her Uncle Craig interviewed on TV.
Thank you to both Dr. Drew Feustal and Craig Hampson for encouraging my little girl to dream big!
Damian Daily 
It’s always nice to have that sort of encouragement, but I feel, as a historian of sorts, that I should be standing up for the archaeology option here. After all, how many other careers let you use a university education to play around in the dirt all day. Plus, all you need is a trowel, and they’re cheaper than space rockets.
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