40. Can I take a piece of space home as a souvenir? (A K2S Question)

From The Space Library

Astronauts sometimes do take pictures or special family mementos on board with them during their flights, along with the American flag or a state flag. They offer the folded American or state flags to commemorate their time in space by donating them to local schools or civic groups like the veterans. But everything must be accounted for when traveling in space because it takes a lot of fuel to lift every ounce of material into Earth orbit. NASA routinely works with teachers and students in schools across the nation to fly experiments into space which can then be returned to each participating school for analysis. This is perhaps the best way to bring back a souvenir from space, as your experiments can help us learn more about surviving in space. Ask your teacher about participating in such a program.

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Answer provided by Jim Zebrowski

Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer

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