Investigator Kristina McCormack writes:
This may not meet the technical requirements for a formal Nomination to the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists, but I believe it merits further inquiry on behalf of that noble institution. Perhaps an honorary membership is in order, at least. From an article by Space.com:
Astronaut Cuts Her Hair in Space for Charity
They appear as two line items in a final transfer list between the space shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station: items 811 and 811.1. Uplinked to the shuttle crew as a final preparation for the undocking of Discovery from the station on Tuesday, the list identifies 811 as Sunita Williams, FE-2, and 811.1 as a ponytail….
“Remove ponytail from 811 prior to transfer of 811” reads the resupply transfer list. “Report final stowage location.”
“We believe 811.1 has been completed, please confirm,” ground controllers wrote to the crew elsewhere in the list.
Williams, who arrived at the outpost last week with long flowing – and floating – hair, arranged to have her locks cut last Sunday and the clippings stowed on Discovery for a future hairpiece to be donated to a patient suffering from long-term medical hair loss.
Such sacrifice is a noble thing.