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Robert Pearlman | Soyuz TMA-03M mission patchSoyuz TMA-03M, currently scheduled to launch on Dec. 21, 2011, will deliver Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, European Space Agency astronaut André Kuipers and NASA astronaut Don Pettit to the International Space Station. The Soyuz TMA-03M crew emblem was designed by Luc van den Abeelen, partially based on the art by 11-year old Alena Gerasimova from Petrozavodsk, Russia. |
hoorenz | ESA astronaut André Kuipers gave a first look at the Soyuz TMA-03M crew patch today on Twitter. On his Sokol suit, Kuipers is displaying a paper printout of the final prototype for the patch.
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MSS | Here is the patch photo from ESA photogallery: |
hoorenz | Let me emphasize that this is not the actual embroidered patch, but a paper printout of the final prototype. Note the tear in the upper left corner. |
Robert Pearlman | Added above, emblem artwork as sourced from NASA (ID: JSC2011E079110). |
hoorenz | Interesting that NASA is the first to release it. Where did they publish it, Robert? |
Robert Pearlman | It has not been published yet (to my knowledge) but has been assigned an ID (as noted) and was shared with collectSPACE by a reader. |
KAPTEC | What a wonderful work Luc! Really a beautiful patch. Congratulations. |
spaceman | Great patch, from an equally great initial design. I wouldn't mind the paper version with the rip as long as it came from the suit pictured. A wonderful collectable.
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Robert Pearlman | Roscosmos officially approved and released this emblem today (Sept. 20). |
hoorenz | Just for the record, and I am aware of what Roscosmos stated in their press release today, we got the signature of (then) Roscosmos head Anatoly Perminov already on March 9, formerly approving the design. As written elsewhere on collectSPACE, this will be the final patch based on the children's competition that was initiated for Gennadi Padalka's Soyuz TMA-14 flight and has been ongoing for the past three years. |
Robert Pearlman | quote: Originally posted by hoorenz: ...this will be the final patch based on the children's competition
Oleg Kononenko was unaware of this when I interviewed him today. He expressed regret that such was the case. (His full comments will be shared in an article to be published closer to his launch in December.) |
hoorenz | The project had been organized by Roscosmos Public Relations (with a commercial sponsor paying for the trips). Responsibility for 'operational' aspects of the Soyuz patches recently shifted from Roscosmos PR directly to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre. So that is the main reason why this particular competition had to be ended. We will have to wait and see how GCTC will organize things. |
Marwin2 | What is the meaning of the Scorpius Constellation on the patch? |
hoorenz | Biggest star of Scorpius is Antares, which is the call sign of the crew. Oleg Kononenko chose a call sign with an 'A' as a reference to his children, twins Andrey and Alise.
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