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First Geocache in Space


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I just read a travel bug went to space!

 

I think a Geocache will happen someday... what are your guesses as to when, or what might be put in it?

 

Unless it's in a close enough orbit for NORAD to track, I doubt it would BE a geocache. It would hafta be a letterbox in space.

 

Just for reference, this is the story from Crake's newsletter that I quoted:

 

Back in February an Astrolabe geocoin was carried into space by Dr. Stan Love on the space shuttle Atlantis (STS 122). This mission delivered the Columbus research lab to the International Space Station and the shuttle (including its Geocoin cargo) traveled 13 days, 202 orbits and over 5.2 million miles!
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I just read a travel bug went to space!

 

I think a Geocache will happen someday... what are your guesses as to when, or what might be put in it?

 

Unless it's in a close enough orbit for NORAD to track, I doubt it would BE a geocache. It would hafta be a letterbox in space.

 

Just for reference, this is the story from Crake's newsletter that I quoted:

 

Back in February an Astrolabe geocoin was carried into space by Dr. Stan Love on the space shuttle Atlantis (STS 122). This mission delivered the Columbus research lab to the International Space Station and the shuttle (including its Geocoin cargo) traveled 13 days, 202 orbits and over 5.2 million miles!

 

I seriously doubt this to be true. Why you may ask me?? For the record, I personally know an individual who works in direct contact with all the astronauts. My husband I had just recently picked up a travel bug from a cache (it was a geocoin from the space coast geocaching assoc.) who's mission was to be taken into space on the shuttle some day. I thought, dang, I know how to make this happen. NOT!!! Long explanation short....everything that is put on the shuttle including the personal belongings the astronauts bring has to be accounted for and most importantly weighed. Yes..."weighed" Right down to the slightest ounce. Anything that is unusual most likely will not be permitted due to the high volume of requests that would follow if word of it got out and NASA doesn't want it's shuttles to be "loaded" down with items that aren't directly involved with it's mission. Only once in a great while might an astronaut be granted permission for such an item, but it takes almost an act of congress and a ton of red tape to get it approved. She said the chances of getting something such as a travel bug and/or geocoin would fair better if you asked Russia to it, but that would cost you more money than most people would ever see in a lifetime.

 

Next time I see my friend, I'll have to ask her about the above mentioned geocoin carried by Dr Stan Love.

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I just read a travel bug went to space!

 

I think a Geocache will happen someday... what are your guesses as to when, or what might be put in it?

 

Unless it's in a close enough orbit for NORAD to track, I doubt it would BE a geocache. It would hafta be a letterbox in space.

 

Just for reference, this is the story from Crake's newsletter that I quoted:

 

Back in February an Astrolabe geocoin was carried into space by Dr. Stan Love on the space shuttle Atlantis (STS 122). This mission delivered the Columbus research lab to the International Space Station and the shuttle (including its Geocoin cargo) traveled 13 days, 202 orbits and over 5.2 million miles!

 

I seriously doubt this to be true. Why you may ask me?? For the record, I personally know an individual who works in direct contact with all the astronauts. My husband I had just recently picked up a travel bug from a cache (it was a geocoin from the space coast geocaching assoc.) who's mission was to be taken into space on the shuttle some day. I thought, dang, I know how to make this happen. NOT!!! Long explanation short....everything that is put on the shuttle including the personal belongings the astronauts bring has to be accounted for and most importantly weighed. Yes..."weighed" Right down to the slightest ounce. Anything that is unusual most likely will not be permitted due to the high volume of requests that would follow if word of it got out and NASA doesn't want it's shuttles to be "loaded" down with items that aren't directly involved with it's mission. Only once in a great while might an astronaut be granted permission for such an item, but it takes almost an act of congress and a ton of red tape to get it approved. She said the chances of getting something such as a travel bug and/or geocoin would fair better if you asked Russia to it, but that would cost you more money than most people would ever see in a lifetime.

 

Next time I see my friend, I'll have to ask her about the above mentioned geocoin carried by Dr Stan Love.

 

It happened...unless this is a conspiracy. (hey, maybe the space shuttle never really left the ground at all). Since astronauts can take personal items into space (as was the case here), this was allowed. There was also a huge uproar about this and GS's stance on it....check the goin forums for the story.

 

As for caches...I prefer to live in reality.

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I just read a travel bug went to space!

 

I think a Geocache will happen someday... what are your guesses as to when, or what might be put in it?

 

Unless it's in a close enough orbit for NORAD to track, I doubt it would BE a geocache. It would hafta be a letterbox in space.

 

Just for reference, this is the story from Crake's newsletter that I quoted:

 

Back in February an Astrolabe geocoin was carried into space by Dr. Stan Love on the space shuttle Atlantis (STS 122). This mission delivered the Columbus research lab to the International Space Station and the shuttle (including its Geocoin cargo) traveled 13 days, 202 orbits and over 5.2 million miles!

 

I seriously doubt this to be true. Why you may ask me?? For the record, I personally know an individual who works in direct contact with all the astronauts. My husband I had just recently picked up a travel bug from a cache (it was a geocoin from the space coast geocaching assoc.) who's mission was to be taken into space on the shuttle some day. I thought, dang, I know how to make this happen. NOT!!! Long explanation short....everything that is put on the shuttle including the personal belongings the astronauts bring has to be accounted for and most importantly weighed. Yes..."weighed" Right down to the slightest ounce. Anything that is unusual most likely will not be permitted due to the high volume of requests that would follow if word of it got out and NASA doesn't want it's shuttles to be "loaded" down with items that aren't directly involved with it's mission. Only once in a great while might an astronaut be granted permission for such an item, but it takes almost an act of congress and a ton of red tape to get it approved. She said the chances of getting something such as a travel bug and/or geocoin would fair better if you asked Russia to it, but that would cost you more money than most people would ever see in a lifetime.

 

Next time I see my friend, I'll have to ask her about the above mentioned geocoin carried by Dr Stan Love.

 

I KNOW Chris Rake as a serious person and a smart business man. I'll take HIS word for it until proven wrong by you because your husband knows some guys..... I'll wait.... :P

 

I seriously doubt he would risk his reputation as a quality coin maker on a stretch of the truth, nor would he go to the trouble of designing a special edition of the coin that went into space to celebrate for no good reason. He just isn't the type....

 

FGIO_Preview.jpg

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I seriously doubt this to be true. Why you may ask me?? For the record, I personally know an individual who works in direct contact with all the astronauts. My husband I had just recently picked up a travel bug from a cache (it was a geocoin from the space coast geocaching assoc.) who's mission was to be taken into space on the shuttle some day. I thought, dang, I know how to make this happen. NOT!!! Long explanation short....everything that is put on the shuttle including the personal belongings the astronauts bring has to be accounted for and most importantly weighed. Yes..."weighed" Right down to the slightest ounce. Anything that is unusual most likely will not be permitted due to the high volume of requests that would follow if word of it got out and NASA doesn't want it's shuttles to be "loaded" down with items that aren't directly involved with it's mission. Only once in a great while might an astronaut be granted permission for such an item, but it takes almost an act of congress and a ton of red tape to get it approved. She said the chances of getting something such as a travel bug and/or geocoin would fair better if you asked Russia to it, but that would cost you more money than most people would ever see in a lifetime.

As I understand it, all astronauts are allowed x.x ounces and x.x cm^3 of volume (I don't know the exact allotments) for the purpose of bringing personal items into space. Assuming the items aren't dangerous, and the astronaut is willing to use up a large chunk of his/her personal allotment to carry a relatively large and heavy coin, I see no reason why this wouldn't be allowed.

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If you placed a cache in geosynchronous orbit (the international space station is NOT, and neither are the GPS satellites), it would technically have stationary coordinates, although I doubt the GPS receiver would work there. Kind of hard to call something like that a geocache anyway, you'd have to make your own site for that sort of thing. stellercaching or cosmocaching or something along those lines.

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I just read a travel bug went to space!

 

I think a Geocache will happen someday... what are your guesses as to when, or what might be put in it?

 

Unless it's in a close enough orbit for NORAD to track, I doubt it would BE a geocache. It would hafta be a letterbox in space.

 

Just for reference, this is the story from Crake's newsletter that I quoted:

 

Back in February an Astrolabe geocoin was carried into space by Dr. Stan Love on the space shuttle Atlantis (STS 122). This mission delivered the Columbus research lab to the International Space Station and the shuttle (including its Geocoin cargo) traveled 13 days, 202 orbits and over 5.2 million miles!

 

I seriously doubt this to be true. Why you may ask me?? For the record, I personally know an individual who works in direct contact with all the astronauts. My husband I had just recently picked up a travel bug from a cache (it was a geocoin from the space coast geocaching assoc.) who's mission was to be taken into space on the shuttle some day. I thought, dang, I know how to make this happen. NOT!!! Long explanation short....everything that is put on the shuttle including the personal belongings the astronauts bring has to be accounted for and most importantly weighed. Yes..."weighed" Right down to the slightest ounce. Anything that is unusual most likely will not be permitted due to the high volume of requests that would follow if word of it got out and NASA doesn't want it's shuttles to be "loaded" down with items that aren't directly involved with it's mission. Only once in a great while might an astronaut be granted permission for such an item, but it takes almost an act of congress and a ton of red tape to get it approved. She said the chances of getting something such as a travel bug and/or geocoin would fair better if you asked Russia to it, but that would cost you more money than most people would ever see in a lifetime.

 

Next time I see my friend, I'll have to ask her about the above mentioned geocoin carried by Dr Stan Love.

 

The thread about this coin in space in the geocoin forum

 

And the locking of geocoin in question

Edited by D@nim@l
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I just read a travel bug went to space!

 

I think a Geocache will happen someday... what are your guesses as to when, or what might be put in it?

 

Unless it's in a close enough orbit for NORAD to track, I doubt it would BE a geocache. It would hafta be a letterbox in space.

 

Just for reference, this is the story from Crake's newsletter that I quoted:

 

Back in February an Astrolabe geocoin was carried into space by Dr. Stan Love on the space shuttle Atlantis (STS 122). This mission delivered the Columbus research lab to the International Space Station and the shuttle (including its Geocoin cargo) traveled 13 days, 202 orbits and over 5.2 million miles!

 

I seriously doubt this to be true. Why you may ask me?? For the record, I personally know an individual who works in direct contact with all the astronauts. My husband I had just recently picked up a travel bug from a cache (it was a geocoin from the space coast geocaching assoc.) who's mission was to be taken into space on the shuttle some day. I thought, dang, I know how to make this happen. NOT!!! Long explanation short....everything that is put on the shuttle including the personal belongings the astronauts bring has to be accounted for and most importantly weighed. Yes..."weighed" Right down to the slightest ounce. Anything that is unusual most likely will not be permitted due to the high volume of requests that would follow if word of it got out and NASA doesn't want it's shuttles to be "loaded" down with items that aren't directly involved with it's mission. Only once in a great while might an astronaut be granted permission for such an item, but it takes almost an act of congress and a ton of red tape to get it approved. She said the chances of getting something such as a travel bug and/or geocoin would fair better if you asked Russia to it, but that would cost you more money than most people would ever see in a lifetime.

 

Next time I see my friend, I'll have to ask her about the above mentioned geocoin carried by Dr Stan Love.

 

I KNOW Chris Rake as a serious person and a smart business man. I'll take HIS word for it until proven wrong by you because your husband knows some guys..... I'll wait.... :(

 

I seriously doubt he would risk his reputation as a quality coin maker on a stretch of the truth, nor would he go to the trouble of designing a special edition of the coin that went into space to celebrate for no good reason. He just isn't the type....

 

FGIO_Preview.jpg

 

Perhaps my wording was a bit to harsh. Let me say kudos to Chris Rake for accomplishing the task of getting a geocoin up there on the shuttle. I thinks it's great that he did!!! Please re-read my OP, I stated that "I personally know an individual", not my husband, and that I"ll have to ask "her", not "some guys my husband knows". ;) I was just stating the facts that were told to me by my friend, who is one of the last persons to check the astronauts and approve of their personal belongings before boarding the shuttle. She in fact was so intrigued by my request that she went to her higher ups and asked if this could be granted and she was told hands down NO WAY!!! NASA is well aware if geocaching and if word of it were to get out that this happened, they would be flooded with other requests regarding the same of which is a bridge they would rather not cross. I just happened to ask her about it right around the Feb '08 launch, which is why she went to her higher ups. Guess I should have posted the long explanation to start with... :D

 

Please Snoogans...no hard feelings here. We each know an individual of which we hold a high regard for as speaking the "truth" and not wanting to "risk their reputations". Please keep us posted about weather or not you friend gets a copy of the personal items list for that mission. It will be cool to see the other kinds of things they take along with them. :)

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I don't think a Geocache will be put in space for a very, very, very long time. The first problem is you can't get a GPS signal in space. Second, going into space is complicated. It's not the same as simply downloading the coordinates to your GPS and driving to it. And third, you would have to be an astronaut to get the Geocache. I think we should keep Geocaching on Earth.

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I just read a travel bug went to space!

 

I think a Geocache will happen someday... what are your guesses as to when, or what might be put in it?

 

From the way things seem to go around here .... My guess as to when the first geocache will be placed in space .... is ... very soon after the first guardrail is placed in space. Ha ! :)

 

~Glenn

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A cache reviewer's job is to help a cache owner to get their cache published, while also meeting the listing guidelines.

 

In this regard, I note that the guidelines require GPS use to be an "integral part" of every cache hunt. But, that does NOT mean that GPS use must be involved at every stage of a multi-stage cache. For example, the GPS may lead the finder of a night cache to a random point in the woods where she can spot the first fire tack. Letterbox-style clues may lead the finder to a container holding the coordinates for a final cache.

 

In this case, stage one could be found on earth using GPS to find, for example, a guardrail in NASA's visitors parking lot. There, the geocacher would learn that they need to hitch a ride on the space shuttle, where the log can be found in a baggie wrapped in duct tape, magneted to the bottom of an electrical panel on the space station.

 

I'd publish that cache, assuming that the owner was in a position to maintain it, and assuming that the space station was not already saturated with caches.

Edited by Keystone
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I'd publish that cache, assuming that the owner was in a position to maintain it, and assuming that the space station was not already saturated with caches.

 

Ummmmm, I'm gonna make some phone calls and post this in our local Houston forum. Lots of NASA folks cache here..... It sounds doable. :)

 

For reals. :)

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**snip**

 

I seriously doubt this to be true. Why you may ask me?? For the record, I personally know an individual who works in direct contact with all the astronauts. My husband I had just recently picked up a travel bug from a cache (it was a geocoin from the space coast geocaching assoc.) who's mission was to be taken into space on the shuttle some day. I thought, dang, I know how to make this happen. NOT!!! Long explanation short....everything that is put on the shuttle including the personal belongings the astronauts bring has to be accounted for and most importantly weighed. Yes..."weighed" Right down to the slightest ounce. Anything that is unusual most likely will not be permitted due to the high volume of requests that would follow if word of it got out and NASA doesn't want it's shuttles to be "loaded" down with items that aren't directly involved with it's mission. Only once in a great while might an astronaut be granted permission for such an item, but it takes almost an act of congress and a ton of red tape to get it approved. She said the chances of getting something such as a travel bug and/or geocoin would fair better if you asked Russia to it, but that would cost you more money than most people would ever see in a lifetime.

 

Next time I see my friend, I'll have to ask her about the above mentioned geocoin carried by Dr Stan Love.

 

I KNOW Chris Rake as a serious person and a smart business man. I'll take HIS word for it until proven wrong by you because your husband knows some guys..... I'll wait.... :)

 

I seriously doubt he would risk his reputation as a quality coin maker on a stretch of the truth, nor would he go to the trouble of designing a special edition of the coin that went into space to celebrate for no good reason. He just isn't the type....

 

FGIO_Preview.jpg

 

Perhaps my wording was a bit to harsh. Let me say kudos to Chris Rake for accomplishing the task of getting a geocoin up there on the shuttle. I thinks it's great that he did!!! Please re-read my OP, I stated that "I personally know an individual", not my husband, and that I"ll have to ask "her", not "some guys my husband knows". ;) I was just stating the facts that were told to me by my friend, who is one of the last persons to check the astronauts and approve of their personal belongings before boarding the shuttle. She in fact was so intrigued by my request that she went to her higher ups and asked if this could be granted and she was told hands down NO WAY!!! NASA is well aware if geocaching and if word of it were to get out that this happened, they would be flooded with other requests regarding the same of which is a bridge they would rather not cross. I just happened to ask her about it right around the Feb '08 launch, which is why she went to her higher ups. Guess I should have posted the long explanation to start with... :)

 

Please Snoogans...no hard feelings here. We each know an individual of which we hold a high regard for as speaking the "truth" and not wanting to "risk their reputations". Please keep us posted about weather or not you friend gets a copy of the personal items list for that mission. It will be cool to see the other kinds of things they take along with them. :(

 

Sorry to weigh in, but it was my coin that Stan carried into orbit. He got to stuff 20 'slots' of items into a personal locker about 2 inches wide by 5 inches by 8 inches. He carried an orthodox icon of St. Herman of Alaska, a Scotty Gomez Rookie card, and the astrolable geocoin in that locker. I even have the certificates. As for personally carrying things onto the station, I think he was also allowed 2 t-shirts, 2 baseball caps (for the press conferances) plus whatever he could place into his 'personal notes' bag, etc. It is actually pretty amazing how much stuff goes up and down.

 

As for who I am, you can always ask Dr. Stan Love about his wedding pictures...I'm the bearded tall guy with the broken leg and a cane standing next to him...

 

I am not sure what 'higher ups' know or don't know about the astronauts personal lockers aside from item size and mass, but somewhere the coin is indeed identified and weighed. They even sealed it in pick shrinkwrap for some odd reason...

 

Crake made these commemorative coins on his own initiative. They commemorate this coin's flight, and it is the real deal.

 

I really like the coins and am getting them to the STS-122 crew members through Stan.

 

Anyhow, just thought I'd clear that up....

 

Nate Grumby

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I just read a travel bug went to space!

 

I think a Geocache will happen someday... what are your guesses as to when, or what might be put in it?

Well, first, by definition, only a cache located on a planet or other large rocky body, such as an asteroid, or a moon, can be called a "geocache", because only these bodies sport the needed geology. And, a cache located in space -- such as onboard the space station, or onboard an abandoned manmade satellite, or on a small unmanned spacecraft careening around the solar system or through interstellar space -- would thus need to be called a spacecache or an astrocache or a galacticache.

 

Next, since the only planet or other space body of which we are aware at this time that currently has GPS satellites deployed in orbit around it is our home planet, Earth, and since our solar system does NOT have a solar system-wide GPS-type navigational system in place at this time, a problem that arises is the sticky issue of how you define the navigational position or location of a spacecache (aka astrocache) once it has been emplaced on a moon or asteroid or on the space station or on a manmade satellite or spacecraft.

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I don't think I've ever seen a lamp post in any of the pictures of space that I have looked at...............

And you KNOW the first cache in space would have to be a micro............

:(:);)

Duh uhhh... Of course[/b there are no lampposts in space, duh... that is quite obvious, but everyone knows that there are lots of guardrails in space, and thus the first space cachers could hide magnetic magnetic keyholder micros on the guardrails (i.e., a listing might read: "our new lame solar system microcache is located behind a the solar highway guardrail at a distance of about 3,000,398 miles from the sun, just ten yards from the green solar highway sign which reads "Planets Ahead! Slow to Sub-light Speed Immediately!"")

 

There are also lots of park benches in deep space, and thus any intrepid space-faring cacher could simply emplace a magnetic keyholder under one of the many park benches to be found almost everywhere in outer space.

 

Sheesh! Some people! I cannot believe that I had to explain this to you! :):)

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The first problem is you can't get a GPS signal in space.
Why not? I mean that's from where the signal comes, isn't it?
Because the signals are beamed down to Earth. Also, GPS devices are designed for use on Earth. They wouldn't be able to calculate your position anywhere else.

 

Regardless of any of this, Richard Garriot has managed to get a Geocache on the International Space Station listed on Geocaching.com. No one really knows how the coordinates to this cache were determined and Groundspeak and Garriot aren't answering any questions.

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Good thing it wasn't hidden on Galaxy 15. It would now need a SBA log.

 

If it was on Galaxy 15 right now it would be orders of magnitude more geostationary than the ISS B) Essentially Galaxy 15 is not responding to station keeping (or any sort of) commands at this point but the idea that it's winging around in geo is one that is in the media but just isn't really right. We pulled down the Two Line Elements today from space command and were looking at the drift rate. It's definitely moving around geo but pretty slowly. Operators will need to judge its movement and make sure that their station keeping is out of its way but there are a lot of "zombie" sats in geo like that right now (and likely for a long long time).

 

I doubt that any of the geostationary sats would qualify in lat lon because of their minor station keeping corrections -- the bob and weave up and down in a minor way in orbit but on the ground it's a significant (if we're talking kms) movement of the ground track.

 

Fun old topic resurrection :)

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Good thing it wasn't hidden on Galaxy 15. It would now need a SBA log.

 

If it was on Galaxy 15 right now it would be orders of magnitude more geostationary than the ISS :)

Unless I got my physics wrong, Galaxy 15 is above the GPS satellites' orbit, while ISS is below. Theoretically you should be able to receive GPS signals and calculate your position on the ISS, provided you have a unit that does not have altitude and velocity restrictions, and you're somewhere in the station which doesn't shield you from the signals.

 

I think Galaxy 15 is damaged by a geocacher who pulled out an antenna to see if a geocache is hidden under it. You know, the fake antenna hide.

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Hey Fellow Geocahers.

 

I just thought you would like to know that Richard Garriot (AKA Lord British) has recently been interviewed by the Mid Life Gamers over at www.midlifegamer.net

 

You may be aware that Richard Garriot is responsible for the Ultima Video Game series among other successful titles.

 

Whilst the interview does focus on gaming, there are a few of us MidLifeGamers that are interested in Geocaching, so he was asked about his placement if both the highest and lowest GeoCaches.

 

Listen to the interview here:

MLG Meets Richard Garriot

 

He also reveals details about an his new Cache in his home town of Austin Texas!

 

Highest GeoCache: GC1BE91

 

Lowwest GeoCache: GCG822

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Regardless of any of this, Richard Garriot has managed to get a Geocache on the International Space Station listed on Geocaching.com. No one really knows how the coordinates to this cache were determined and Groundspeak and Garriot aren't answering any questions.

 

The coords are to the launch pad.

Ya, for the launch pad. Originaly the coordinates had the E/W mixed up, showing it in Canadian waters off the East Coast.

 

Also, why is it rated a 5/5. Shouldn't it be a 1/5? From the description, once you get to the locations, it sounds quite easy.

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For the Cache In Space check this guys profile

 

http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=f5...72-2bd6414fd4b8

 

He placed on on the ISS.

 

well after reading this entire thread i'm very surprised that nobody else knew about this...until i get to the bottom and you said something about it....yes people there is a geocache in space...on the ISS...it even says it in the guidelines at gc.com...that nobody can put one on the ISS because one is already placed there...

 

link

 

this is the link to the cache page

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