Four-Leaf Clover, Out of this World

President Barack Obama greets astronaut Greg Chamitoff and his family in the Oval Office, Dec. 8, 2011. Chamitoff returned a tiny good luck charm he flew into space for the President and presented him with an official NASA space certificate. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) December 8, 2011. (by Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

It’s not every day that an astronaut asks if he can carry an item into space for the President.

Last winter, after attending the 2010 White House Hanukkah celebration, NASA Astronaut Dr. Gregory Chamitoff contacted the White House and offered to fly a personal memento for President Obama on his upcoming mission on board Space Shuttle Endeavor (STS-134). Fast forward five months, and a quarter-size good luck charm made a remarkable journey into outer Space!

During the 14-day mission in spring 2011, Dr. Chamitoff, an aeronautical engineer and planetary geologist, performed operations with the Shuttle and Station Robotic Arms. He also performed two spacewalks, the last of which was the final spacewalk of the Space Shuttle Program. Prior to Endeavor, he had made one previous spaceflight, a six-month mission aboard the space station in 2008. To date, Dr. Chamitoff has logged more than 198 days in space.

And just two weeks ago, Dr. Chamitoff, along with his wife Chantal and twins Dimitri and Natasha, came to the White House to return the President’s four leaf clover. For the President, and all of us at the White House, the space program encapsulates what it means push the boundaries not only of where we can go but what we can do.

To learn more about Dr. Chamitoff’s shuttle mission, click here.

Danielle Borrin is the Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Affairs & Public Engagement in the Office of the Vice President.