Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 13681
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted October 28, 2008 03:46 PM
   
For his first mission in 1996, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk and his crewmates on STS-78 worked with Tsimshian Indian artist Bill Helin to design both his personal patch (right) and the mission insignia (right). 
Now, as Thirsk prepares to return to space in May 2009 as the first Canadian to launch on a Russian Soyuz (TMA-15) and the first to serve as part of a long duration space station crew (ISS Expedition 19), he has once again collaborated with Helin to design his personal patch. 
As described in videos posted on his website (as captured above) and in an interview with the Oceanside Star, Helin incorporates a thunderbird as the central image for the new crest. Thirsk suggested the powerful thunderbird as the centrepiece, which fits in well with Helin's own background as a Tsimshian native artist. The feathers and wings represent the men and women in the space program (which includes Japanese and Europeans).The sun in the bird's heart was also in the original patch, providing continuity, and inside the stomach is an open book, speaking to the knowledge to be learned from the mission. "The bear symbol is symbolic of the Russian involvement," Helin said, while the fluke on the bird's head stands for the Canadarm. The raven and moon symbolize future stations on the moon.  IP: Logged |
