We still do not have absolute assurance from NASA that they will fly our dual Starshine 4/5 satellites on the STS-114 mission in December of 2002. However, we feel that the odds are sufficiently good that we will now accept applications for mirror polishing kits for that mission. You can find the application form for a kit by scrolling down this home page until you find the heading, "School Participation Request." We will send three mirrors in each kit. Please polish them all and send us your best two. We'll fly one on Starshine 4 and one on Starshine 5. You may keep your third best for your school trophy case or other suitable location. Or, on the other hand, if it's also a great one, you may send it to us, as well. Not all schools return their mirrors to us, if you can believe that, and some of the mirrors are of unusable quality, so we'll always be needing extras at the last minute.

We're considering putting CD ROMs of our mirror polishing instructional video in the kits this year, instead of videotapes, because there are so many videotape standards in different parts of the world. It costs us extra time and money to produce the various types, and this is, after all, a volunteer project on a very limited budget. Please indicate in the comments section of your application if you would prefer the CD ROM or the videotape, and which type of videotape you need (VHS, PAL, SECAM, etc.), if that's what you choose. Please fill it in completely, or we may not be able to send your kit to you. And please be sure to send us a valid email address, so we can acknowledge receipt of your request. We expect to get the first of the 1000 Starshine 4/5 kits into the mail around Christmas time and have them all shipped by early in 2002. We'll need to have the polished mirrors back by the end of February 2002.