Astronaut to take part of Navy UDT-SEAL museum into space

FORT PIERCE — When the Space Shuttle Endeavour blasts off June 13, a former Navy SEAL will be carrying a memento from the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum on North Hutchinson Island.

Navy Cmdr. Christopher Cassidy will take a limited-edition coin to the International Space Station, then bring it back for display at the museum. The coins were given to donors to the SEAL memorial project planned at the museum.

“Crew members on the shuttle can take a very small number of mementos along on their missions,” said Michael Howard, a former SEAL and director of the museum. “And Chris asked us if there was something special from the museum he could take into orbit.”

Howard said museum staffers “came up with a whole box full of things before we found out just how restricted the astronauts are in what they can take. That’s when we came up with the coin.”

The coin is the first of 50 to 100 that were minted as thank-yous to large donors to the memorial project.

“We kept coin No. 1 at the museum,” Howard said. “We’re hoping we can have a presentation ceremony when Chris brings it back.”

Cassidy, who led SEAL teams on missions in Afghanistan beginning just two weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, is the second SEAL in space.

Navy Capt. William M. Bill Shepherd is a four-time space shuttle astronaut. He commanded the first mission to the International Space Station and lived aboard the outpost for 141 days, from October 2000 to March 2001.

A display at the museum honors both men, Howard said.