posted March 17, 2010 10:26 AM               

Army Strong on the ISS

Command of the International Space Station (ISS) was transferred on Wednesday from NASA astronaut Col. Jeffrey Williams to Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov as Williams prepares to leave the station on Thursday and return to Earth with ISS Expedition 22 flight engineer Maxim Suraev. For almost three of William's six months aboard the orbiting laboratory, he's been joined by T.J. Creamer, a fellow NASA astronaut and colonel in the U.S. Army. To show support for their service, Williams and Creamer recruited Expedition 22 patch co-artist Tim Gagnon to design a special emblem displaying the motto "ISS is Army Strong." The camouflage insignia remained mostly hidden from the public until last week, when it was captured in the background of a photo taken of Williams.