For Students, a Group Effort Becomes an Endeavour

President Bush had lots of company as he saluted the nation’s space effort. “We are gathered here today to celebrate the continuity of our space program and really of our country itself, of America herself,” Bush said as he shared a White House stage with five shuttle astronauts, nine fifth-graders and nine junior and senior high school students. The astronauts were David M. Walker, Ronald J. Grabe, Norman E. Thagard, Mark C. Lee and Mary L. Cleave, who returned May 8 from a four-day mission aboard the shuttle Atlantis. The 18 students, nine each from Senatobia Middle School in Senatobia, Miss., and Tallulah Falls School in Tallulah Falls, Ga., had submitted the winning name, Endeavour, for the shuttle being built to replace Challenger, which exploded in 1986. Endeavour, which will have the British spelling, was the name of the flagship used by 18th-Century English explorer James Cook. Bush said that more than 6,100 teams formed by 71,650 students submitted research projects supporting proposed names for the shuttle. Education agency panels picked state winners and Bush made the final selection.

--President Bush’s eldest son, George W. Bush, is trying to decide whether to mind his mother. The younger Bush, speaking to the Austin Young Republicans, said he is still mulling over a run for Texas governor, even though his mother, Barbara, has advised him to stick to running the Texas Rangers baseball team that he bought into recently. “For 42 years my mother has been giving me advice,” he said. “I’ve listened to her about 10% of the time.”

--TV viewers in Tennessee are laying odds that their governor, Ned McWherter, won’t be looking for a sure bet any time soon. McWherter has taken a public stand against legalized gambling in his state but WTVF, a Nashville television station, showed film of him making wagers with friends at a steeplechase race. “I guess the governor ought not to be out here,” he told the station after tucking his money into a shirt pocket. “I just try to be like the average citizen.” McWherter likened his betting at the race to office pools on the World Series or the Kentucky Derby.