Buzz Lightyear returns to Earth after 15 months in space

TO INFINITY... AND BACK!: Buzz Lightyear returned from space on Sept. 11, 2009 aboard space shuttle Discovery’s STS-128 mission, having served as the longest-tenured crew member in space. In a photo taken Sept. 11, 2009, the toy Buzz Lightyear that was sent into space May 31, 2008 aboard the STS-124 mission is posed in front of space shuttle Discovery on the runway at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. He will be celebrated in a ticker-tape parade together with his International Space Station crewmates and former Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin on Oct. 2, 2009 at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. While on the space station, Buzz supported NASA’s education outreach program – STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) by creating a series of fun educational online outreach programs. To celebrate his return, Disney is partnering with NASA to create a new online educational game and an online mission patch competition for school kids across America. NASA will fly the winning patch into space. In addition, NASA plans to announce on Oct. 2 the details of a new exciting educational competition that will give students the opportunity to design an experiment for the astronauts on the space station. (Tony Landis/NASA, photographer)