Space Station Expedition 13 Space Patch - NASA/ESA

Embroidered Space Patch for the Expedition 13 Mission to the International Space Station

Expedition 13 was the 13th expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), and launched at 02:30 UTC on March 30, 2006.[1] The expedition used the Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft, which stayed at the station for the duration of the expedition for emergency evacuation.
Astronaut Marcos Pontes launched with Expedition 13 on the Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft and became the first Brazilian in space. He returned with Expedition 12 on Soyuz TMA-7 after a nine-day mission.

Thomas Reiter, from the European Space Agency, became part of the Expedition 13 crew in July 2006. Reiter was launched with the second Return to Flight mission on Discovery (STS-121) on July 4, 2006. Reiter became the first European long-duration crew member on the International Space Station when he officially joined the crew of the ISS at 19:13 UTC on July 6, 2006 upon the complete installation of his Soyuz spacecraft seat liner, allowing him to return to Earth aboard the docked Soyuz craft.

This patch commemorates the thirteenth expeditionary mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which continues the permanent human presence in space. The ISS is depicted in its configuration at the start of the six-month expedition with trailing elements from the country flags representing both of the crew members--cosmonaut Pavel V. Vinogradov and astronaut Jeffrey N. Williams. The crew members made the following statement about their patch: "The dynamic trajectory of the space station against the background of the Earth, Mars, and the Moon symbolizes the vision for human space exploration beyond Earth orbit and the critical role that the ISS plays in the fulfillment of that vision."

Reiter's arrival restored the station crew to three members for the first time since May of 2003. The station's crew size was reduced to two when shuttle flights were put on hold after the Space Shuttle Columbia accident on February 1, 2003.

A later version of the patch included a third flag (German) trailing from the International Space Station.

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