[FPSPACE] Expedition 9 press kit

[Chris Jones]

Neville Kidger wrote:

> For those interested,  the Expedition 9 press kit is now online at:
> 
> http://www.shuttlepresskit.com/EXPEDITION9/index.htm

Thanks for posting this.  I have a few comments questions on, of all things,
the expedition patch.  But first:

NASA continues to rename/renumber Russian spacecraft.  They call the
upcoming (upgoing?) spacecraft ISS Soyuz 8, and the one currently up
there ISS Soyuz 7, though sometimes they screw up differently and drop
the "ISS", so you get, e.g. Soyuz 8.  They do something similar with
the Progress craft.  WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!

The cover of the press kit is the Expedition 9 patch, which is full of
iconography.  It's explained at NASA's Human Space Flight site, at
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-9/html/iss009-s-001.html
(whew!).  Here's what it says:

   This emblem represents the Ninth Expedition to the International Space
   Station. The Soyuz rocket and letter "X" combine into the Roman numeral IX.
   The "X" evokes Exploration, which is at the core of the indivisible
   partnership of the two space pioneering nations. Research aboard ISS will
   lead to human exploration of the Moon and Mars. This pursuit is strengthened
   by the common memory of the astronauts and cosmonauts who gave their lives
   in this valiant endeavor. Their stars form the leading edge of the wings of
   the eagle spirit that embodies Human Space Flight. The Astronaut symbol is
   flanked by the Expedition 9 crew names leaning together, with a "9" stylized
   as the plume of their rocket. The baton of great discovery is passed to the
   crew of the spaceship advancing to their orbital outpost.
[followed by some prose that seems to hint they don't want anyone making money
selling copies of these patches]

Several interesting things and some questions:  Mars and the Moon
appear on this patch, suggesting a tie-in with resident Bush's recently
announced space plan.  Odd, since the tie-in is that he wants to move away
from ISS.  The shuttle appears on the patch, though it's almost certain that
this expedition will never see a shuttle visit the station.  If I were writing
this copy, I wouldn't have said "indivisible partnership"; it's a nice
sentiment, but hardly certain.  The use of the eagle is interesting as well,
it sure looks exactly like what we call an American Eagle, and the bald eagle
is exclusively a North American bird.  And I'm confused about "common memory"
and "eagle spirit" (and the capitalization of Human Space Flight).  As to the
stars, there are (from top right to bottom left) 6 gold 5-pointed stars, 1
blue 6-pointed star, 3 gold 5 pointed stars (all on the eagle's left wing),
5 red 5-pointed stars around the eagle's neck, and 7 5-pointed gold stars
on the eagle's right wing.  I figure the 6-pointed star, a/k/a Star of David,
is for Ramon, and the number of gold stars matches the remaining crew on
Columbia, Challenger's last crew, and the Apollo 1 crew.  So the 5 red stars
must be for Soviet/Russian cosmonauts, and 4 died in flight.  Who's the 5th?
Are they counting Bondarenko (ground test fire fatality, somewhat similar to
Apollo 1)?

For a picture of the crew "wearing" the patch, take a look at
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-9/hires/iss009-s-002.jpg
(it's huge, but it needs to be).  Zoom in on the patch.  To me, that is
obviously a Photoshop or equivalent paste job; those patches have been added
in (note also that the other patch refers to their spacecraft as Soyuz TMA-4).

Curious.