NASA Astronaut Megan McArthur is a big fan of national parks, and she recently had a chance to "fly the flag" for parks in an unusual way. She carried a custom-made NPS banner on her recent flight on space shuttle Atlantis, a trip that logged 5.3 million miles.

McArthur presented the banner, along with a commemorative plaque, to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Acting NPS Director Dan Wenk during a July 24, 2009, ceremony held in the Secretary’s Office.

Each astronaut is allowed to take a few mementoes of personal relevance into space. “After honoring the schools I’ve attended, the next thing I thought of was the National Park Service,” said McArthur. She contacted the agency which provided a banner with a map of the U.S. pinpointing the location of all 391 NPS sites. “I love the parks and I was proud to carry this banner with me. I want you to know how much the park service means to me and I will always do what I can to highlight parks.”

McArthur has been a fan of parks since a family vacation to Yellowstone at an early age. “Thank you for the work you do to inspire kids and get them outdoors,” she said. “I have the privilege of being a professional explorer and my spirit of exploration was really fostered by visits to national parks. I was one of those little kids that always wanted to be the first to reach the top of the mountain to see what was on the other side,” she recalled.

McArthur and her husband, also an astronaut, visit parks as often as they can. “Backpacking in parks is really my favorite thing to do whenever I have time,” she said. They usually get to Big Bend at least once a year, even though it’s a ten hour drive from their home base in Houston, and she was able to spot her "local" park from space.

McArthur served as a mission specialist on STS-125 Atlantis from May 11th to May 24th. As she orbited the earth 197 times during the flight, McArthur was able to observe different aspects of her favorite planet. She shared a sunset photograph she shot that shows the glow of the thin layer of atmosphere that surrounds the earth.

She expressed gratitude to the NPS for “all the work you do to protect our planet because, as the picture demonstrates, it’s a beautiful but really fragile place.”