This cache was placed originally for the Geocaching Goes to Space...3, 2, 1 Blastoff! event at the nearby establishment with permission of the manager. On November 6, 2013, NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on the Russian Soyuz rocket. His journey to the International Space Station included an opportunity for a Geocaching Travel Bug (TB5JJN1) and 11 hitchhikers from 11 elementary schools in his hometown of Waterbury, CT to visit the elusive geocache on board the ISS (GC1BE91).
Mastracchio's purpose in bringing the travel bug into space is to help inspire the next generation and bring more of an awareness of NASA and the ISS to elementary students and folks of all ages while also helping teach them about geography here on Earth.
Also on board the Soyuz rocket with the Expedition 38 crew was an Olympic torch that will be used in the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Although the olympic torch was flown on Space Shuttle Atlantis in 1996 for the summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, this will be the first time an Olympic torch will accompany Russian cosmonauts on a spacewalk.
Also on the evening of November 6, 2013, NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy from York, Maine gave a presentation just down the street at Trinity Episcopal Church on Forest Avenue. It was definitely a day that was "out of this world" for space enthusiasts and Geocachers in southern Maine!
For more "out of this world" experiences, you may want to check out the university campus and science buildings after signing the cache log.