Daytona 500 flags headed to space
By SceneDaily Staff Report
Thursday, November 29, 2007
JOE RAEDLE / GETTY IMAGES /
Three Daytona 500 green flags will be launched on the space shuttle Atlantis next week as part of the race's 50th anniversary celebration, as well as NASA's 50th anniversary, the Orlando Sentinel reported Thursday.
The newspaper said NASA came up with the idea to link the two anniversaries earlier this year, and the space agency and Daytona International Speedway are trying to arrange promotional events with astronauts and drivers.
A joint NASCAR driver/Atlantis crew news conference is possible during the shuttle's 11-day mission next month. Atlantis is scheduled to lift off form Cape Canaveral next Friday.
The paper said NASA usually sets aside a small amount of space on every shuttle for commemorative items. The three 500 flags had to be measured and weighed carefully, the Sentinel said.
One of the flags will be awarded to the winner of the 2008 Daytona 500, a second will be displayed in the Daytona 500 Experience and the third will stay with NASA.
NASA was formed in October 1958 from the old National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and other government agencies. The first Daytona 500 was held Feb. 22, 1959.
