evidence: Since then, Sri Lankan aviation has progressed immeasurably if not always smoothly. Although Sri Lanka is a tiny island, its aeronautical history is rich with stories of men, women, and their flying machines. Many of those stories, recounted by this author, have been featured in the Sunday Times over the past 17 years or so, and can still be read online. Maybe some day, when the 'centenary dust' has settled from the sky, one or more dedicated historians with a genuine and abiding interest in the minutiae of the subject will write a comprehensive and accurate – in all respects – account of Sri Lankan aviation history. [...] Twenty-one-year-old Yohan Ferreira became the first Sri Lankan to attend the International Space School (ISS) at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas. [...] He is also the Assistant Coordinator of the Student Signatures in Space (S3) Program, sponsored jointly by NASA and Lockheed Martin Corporation and held annually on Space Day (first Thursday in May). The program gives 550 schools worldwide the rare opportunity of flying their students' signatures in space aboard the Space Shuttle every year. His alma mater became the first school from Sri Lanka to participate in the S3 program in 2001.