Space Shuttle Geocoin

For many decades, the Space Shuttle has symbolized Florida's Space Coast, making it the perfect icon for the Space Coast Geocachers Association. Conceptualized in 1969, the Space Shuttle program was officially started in January, 1972. The first complete orbiter was originally planned to be named Constitution, but a massive write-in campaign from fans of the Star Trek television series convinced the White House to change the name to Enterprise.

On Jan. 28, 1986, 73 seconds after launch, the Space Shuttle Challenger was lost to us on mission STS-51-L. During her lifetime, Challenger made 10 successful flights, surviving over 62 days in space, and almost 1000 orbits around our Earth. Seventeen years later, during re-entry of mission STS-107, on Jan 16, 2003 the Space Shuttle Columbia was lost to us. During her lifetime, Columbia made 28 successful flights, surviving over 300 days in space, and over 4800 orbits around our Earth. Both shuttles had a crew of 7 astronauts.

This coin commemorates both those flights, and the fourteen brave souls who were lost during those final missions. The artwork on the back of the coin is an artistic composite of the mission insignias from both flights STS-51-L and STS-107. The tracking number can be found under the hinged bay door.

Size: 6.35 cm long
Trackable at geocaching.com with its own icon: