Emblazoned with a bold 35 for the 35th expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), this patch portrays a natural moonlit view of the Earth from the ISS at the moment of sunrise, one of the sixteen that occur each day at orbital velocity, with glowing bands of Earth’s atmosphere dispersing the sun’s bright light into primary colors.
The Earth is depicted as it often appears from space, without recognizable coastlines or boundaries – just as the international endeavor of living and working together in space blurs technical and cultural boundaries between nations. The ISS is the unseen central figure of the image, since the view is from a window of the Space Station itself, commemorating full use of the Space Station as a long-duration dwelling from which humans can develop techniques and technologies to further explore.
The crew points out, “The arc of the Earth’s horizon with the sun’s arrows of light imply a bow shooting the imagination to Mars and the cosmos where our species may one day thrive.”
Expedition 35 begins with the Soyuz TMA-06M undocking in March 2013. Three new crew members will arrive shortly thereafter on Soyuz TMA-08M.
Soyuz TMA-07M
Crew: Chris Hadfield, Tom Marshburn, Roman Romanenko
Launch: November 2012
Landing: May 2013
Soyuz TMA-08M
Crew: Chris Cassidy, Pavel Vinogradov, Alexander Misurkin
Launch: March 2013
Landing: September 2013
Embroidered Expedition 35 patch available now from the spaceboosters online store
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