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A girl's best friend soars through space

Tiffany Tuell

(Updated: Thursday, November 19, 2009, 3:24 PM)

Goldmine Jewelry provides diamond that accompanied astronauts on the Space Shuttle Atlantis

It's a well known fact that the majority of women love diamonds. When Denise Okuda of Southern California, decided it was time for a new diamond in her wedding band, she not only got that diamond from Oakhurst's Goldmine Jewelry, she then sent it to outer space -- literally.

Denise Okuda's husband, Michael, has done quite a bit of work for NASA during his career. He said he has always been passionate about space exploration and that lead him to NASA, providing them emblems and graphics for Mission Control, Project Constellation and the Orion spacecraft.

Most recently, he received an e-mail from astronaut John Grunsfeld asking Okuda to design STS-125 crew's mission patch. "STS-125 was the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope and to be asked to create their mission patch was a considerable honor," Okuda said.

When the patch was completed, Grunsfeld offered to carry a memento into space for Okuda.

"Naturally we were thrilled. Mike and I talked it over," Denise Okuda said. "I'd always wanted to get a new diamond for my wedding ring so Mike said, 'Maybe this is a good time to get a new diamond. John can take it up for us, and every time I look at your ring it will make it that much more special."

While visiting Denise Okuda's parents in Coarsegold, she was reminded by her mother that "one of the best jewelers in the country is right here in Oakhurst." She was referring to Paul Johnson, who, along with his wife, Carole, owns Goldmine Jewelry. They went to the jewelry store, purchased a diamond and sent it off to Grunsfeld in Houston.

When Atlantis took off for space last May, the Okuda's were NASA guests. "It was spectacular," Denise Okuda said. "All that power. You can actually feel the rumble of the rockets in your chest!" They closely monitored the mission, watching Grunsfeld on his space walks. When the Atlantis returned, the Okuda's brought the diamond back to Oakhurst and had the diamond set.

Paul Johnson called his association with the Okuda's and their diamond, a "once in a lifetime" event.

"To sell and later set a diamond that has been certified to have traveled over five million miles to the outer reaches of manned space flight, is truly incredible," Johnson said.

"While fashioning the prongs to hold this unique stone, I felt the honor and privilege to have been involved in such a special, one-of-a-kind event."

Michael Okuda's career has involved graphic design for "Starship Enterprise" in a number of the Star Trek films. Okuda also said he produced visual effects for the remastered original Star Trek series and served as a technical consultant to the writers. He has also worked with other television and film productions such as Threshold, The West Wing and the Informant.

Denise Okuda has also worked with Star Trek production as a video supervisor, graphic artist and medical consultant to their writing staff.