CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Thanks to Ohio-reared astronaut Nancy Currie, four freshly minted quarters marking the Buckeye State's aviation history are orbiting the Earth aboard space shuttle Columbia.

        “It's safe to say they went up right beside me,” said Ms. Currie, a shuttle crane operator who captured the Hubble Space Telescope on Sunday.

        The Ohio Bicentennial Commission decided to get the commemorative coins aboard the shuttle following last week's one-day launch delay.

        After a flurry of faxes and phone calls, the coins arrived at Kennedy Space Center just 12 hours before Friday morning's launch. They were rushed by plane from Washington and then handed by a U.S. Mint employee to a retired Ohio state trooper living in Orlando, who made the one-hour drive to Cape Canaveral.

        The coins were tucked into Ms. Currie's carry-on bag, which was placed under the floorboards near her cockpit seat.

        The quarters, which bear the words “Birthplace of Aviation Pioneers,” will be displayed at the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. Ms. Currie is from nearby Troy.

        “We have an awful lot of heroes in our home state, Neil Armstrong and, of course, Sen. John Glenn. So we're just extremely fortunate,” Ms. Currie said.

Rapid pace escalates the debate over sprawl
Airport has plan to avoid runway gridlock
Eyes have it: Surgeons add new laser tool
Ohio-born astronaut carries state quarters aboard shuttle
Police recruits get cult lesson
UC set to expand online services for students
Blue Wisp could jazz Kentucky
Kentucky launches reform of jail care
Kentucky plan will not order raises without money
Mystery surrounds softening of cap on Ky. taxes
Butler day offers safety training
Dress code up for vote at schools
Gay minister encourages church
Grand Vic bus catches fire
Humana Festival plays to cover spectrum
Icy roads land 1 in hospital
Ohio most expensive place in U.S. to buy wine
Proposal would require baby hearing tests
State exams: Studying with software
Study links sleep, attention problems
Washington statue cover-up has left little to imagination
Some Good News
Taft's pick shows he's tone deaf
You Asked For It
Riot pictures win photography awards
Tristate A.M. report