Seven U.S. astronauts and new girders and solar arrays are not the only riders for NASA’s space shuttle Atlantis set to launch late Friday.

Tokens for the family board game Monopoly and the science fiction film Serenity (not to mention its television show root Firefly) will catch a ride to the ISS aboard Atlantis during NASA’s STS-117 mission when it rockets spaceward at 7:38 p.m.  EDT tomorrow night.

The Monopoly tokens are the little mover pieces for the Hasbro game’s Here & Now edition, which just happens to have NASA’s Johnson Space Center — the Houston training site for U.S. astronauts — as an available,  according to the folks at Hasbro. Tucked away inside the 100-ton Atlantis are tiny versions of the Toyota Prius, New Balance Shoe, Labradoodle, Motorola Razr cell phone, Laptop Computer, McDonald’s French Fries and an airplane that serve as player pieces for the game, they added.

Whedon’s Serenity and Firely, certainly a favorite for this space reporter, are apparently being carried in DVD form to take a permanent place on the ISS by an Atlantis crewmember.

For those of you under a sci-fi rock, Serenity is the name of the beloved Firefly spaceship helmed by Capt. Malcolm Reynolds.

Fans (called Browncoats) apparently gave the DVDs to the STS-117 astronaut in question and are tracking the sci-fi film/series’ launch at: http://www.breakingatmo.com/, where you’ll find an oh-so-cool image of Serenity flying past the ISS. Shiny!

Thanks to CaptainCoupi, whoever you are, out there for sending this bit along.

If Monopoly and Serenity aren’t enough for you, don’t worry. The space memorabilia experts over at collectSPACE.com will have a full workup on the personal effects to be carried spaceward by the STS-117 during their 11-day mission.

NASA’s STS-117 crew will deliver new trusses and solar arrays to the space station, as well a new crewmember. You can follow SPACE.com’s mission coverage here.