Historic Tag Comes Home

Astronaut Patrick Forrester returned a piece of American history to Historic Jamestown on September 6, 2007.

A nearly 400-year-old lead cargo tag from the Jamestown settlement -- the only artifact with the name of the settlement on it recovered to date -- shared a ride on space shuttle Atlantis with Forrester during June's STS-117 mission.

"We found the tag at the bottom of a well during a dig at the James Fort," said William M. Kelso, the APVA director of archaeology at Historic Jamestowne. "It appears to be a discarded shipping tag from a crate or trunk that arrived from England around 1611. The artifact clearly marks Jamestown as a destination -- our nation's first address."

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President Bush highlights America's Anniversary Weekend

On Sunday, May 13, President George W. Bush visited Jamestown to honor the courageous settlers who braved the Atlantic Ocean and the unknown to establish the first sustained English settlement in the New World.

Image above: President George W. Bush's visit highlighted the Jamestown 2007 celebration. Credit: NASA/Sean Smith
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NASA Administrator Michael Griffin joined the President in recognizing the pioneering spirit that guided the Jamestown colonists 400 years ago and drives the nation's Vision for Space Exploration today.

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Three years ago President Bush unveiled the Vision, a comprehensive plan for space exploration that set NASA on a course to "gain a new foothold on the moon and to prepare for new journeys to the worlds beyond our own."

High overhead, three modern-day explorers -- the International Space Station Expedition 15 crew -- delivered a special message to the Jamestown crowd. Astronaut Sunita Williams, speaking on behalf of Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov, saluted the Jamestown settlers saying, "The same courage and conviction that brought Jamestown settlers to America in 1607 continues to drive today's explorers to establish the first human outpost on the Moon."

Image above: The Expedition 15 crew (from left to right: Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov, Astronaut Sunita 'Suni' Williams and Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin) sends a special message to Jamestown 2007 from space. Credit: NASA
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America's Anniversary Weekend (May 11 - 13, 2007) at Jamestown, Va., was dedicated to celebrating the explorers who risked their lives to establish the first sustained English settlement in the New World in 1607.

NASA is partnering with Jamestown on a nearly-18-month series of events to promote this celebration of the spirit of exploration. In 2006 NASA hitched a ride with the Godspeed Sail -- a series of port calls to six U.S. east coast cities made by a replica of the Godspeed sailing ship. The original Godspeed was one of three ships that brought the first English settlers to the New World.

An interactive NASA exhibit called "Jamestown and NASA: Exploring the Past, Discovering the Future, Understanding the Journey" was featured during Anniversary Weekend. NASA personnel were on hand to to help visitors compare 17th-century exploration to our upcoming journeys to the moon, Mars and beyond.