Students’ autographs head into space

Not just anybody gets a chance to send their signatures into space, but most of the students at Sinclair Elementary School did just that earlier this month.

Last May, students at the school—off Lomond Drive in the Manassas area—signed a poster that would eventually be scanned and sent into space aboard the space shuttle Atlantis.

On Nov. 16, Atlantis launched at John F. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., and took the disc holding the children's signatures on a mission to the International Space Station as part of a program sponsored locally by Lockheed Martin.

"We thought it would be a neat experience for our students," said first-grade teacher Beth Mruzek, who organized the project at the suggestion of Julie Burnett, a grandmother who works at the aerospace company and knew of the program.

Donna Fagerholm, the principal of the elementary school, said sending their signatures on the space shuttle gives the students a "personal connection" to their studies.

"I think they're more interested and engaged in the whole process of space travel," Fagerholm said. "That engagement means that when teachers are talking about space, when they're teaching that part of the curriculum, [the students] relate to it a little bit better."

Second grader Aura Fuentes-Flores and first grader Chloe Williams said it was "cool" that all the names went to the stars.

Zachary Messer said it was "awesome."

"My name has never gone into space before," the third grader said.

Te'a Le, a fifth grade student, said having their names in space was "exciting because it gives other people something to think about."

"Say other kids who want to be astronauts, they can think about our names going into space. It would let other kids think about choosing to be an astronaut when they grow up," Te'a said.

Joel Brown liked the idea, too.

"It's cool because an astronaut crew gets to see our names and they could remember us," the fourth-grader said.

Mruzek said the scanned poster will eventually return to the school along with a photo of the Atlantis crew and a flight certification.

"That's going to come back to us in about eight weeks," Mruzek said.

Mruzek got a T-shirt with the "Student Signatures in Space" emblazoned across the front for her efforts in making the project happen.

Manassas Bureau Chief Keith Walker can be reached at 703-369-6751.