posted 05-07-2009 05:46 AM               

Roscosmos has announced that the Soyuz TMA-16 crew, who will fly to the International Space Station in September 2009, will continue the tradition started with the TMA-14 crew: they are inviting children (ages 8-13) to create artwork from which their mission patch will be based.

The contest is sponsored by the Russian Underwriting Center. Winners will again be offered a trip to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to observe the TMA-16 launch.

The contest is open until June 15, 2009. Designs can be send to sbor@sbornet.ru and need to include name and age of the artist, some personal information, e-mail address and a telephone number.

The crew for Soyuz TMA-16 will consist of Russian cosmonaut Maxim Surayev and American astronaut Jeff Williams. The third seat aboard the spacecraft is still vacant.

posted 06-23-2009 12:42 PM               

The Soyuz TMA-16 patch was based on artwork provided by 14-year old Nastya Mestyashova from the Orenburg region in Russia.

The central element of the emblem is a cosmonaut figure and three large stars, one for each launching crew member: American astronaut Jeff Williams (dark blue star), Space Adventures participant Guy Laliberte (light blue star) and their Russian spacecraft commander Maxim Surayev (red star) who will safely guide his crew to the International Space Station.

The flags of the cosmonauts' home countries - Russia, the United States and Canada - are shown at the top of the shield. In the upper left corner, simple shapes symbolize the building blocks of the universe and life on Earth.

The 'cradle of mankind', from which the mission originates, is depicted by a growing plant, gradually transforming into a fiery rocket trail and a spacecraft, bound for the International Space Station. The ISS is drawn like a gold star, with nine rays for each crew member present when the Soyuz TMA-16 has arrived.

The plant and rocket trail together form a '16', the Soyuz TMA mission number.

The Earth in the background has the typical grid pattern seen in earlier Soviet and Russian space logos, heralding all heroes of the Vostok, Woskhod and Soyuz flights of the past.

The surnames of Williams and Laliberte are accompanied by the NASA and One Drop Foundation logos respectively. In the same area, a small red star and small blue star are included for the future, safe return of Surayev and Williams, who together will land in the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft in March 2010.

posted 07-30-2009 03:48 AM               

Also see SpacePatches.nl. On our TMA-16 detail page, you will find an image of the back up patch as well.