Susan Helms

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Amerikas Forenede Stater's flag

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The STS-78 patch links past with present to tell the story of its mission and science through a design imbued with the strength and vitality of the 2-dimensional art of North America's northwest coast Indians. Central to the design is the space Shuttle whose bold lines and curves evoke the Indian image for the eagle, a native American symbol of power and prestige as well as the national symbol of the United States. The wings of the Shuttle suggest the wings of the eagle whose feathers, indicative of peace and friendship in Indian tradition, are captured by the U forms, a characteristic feature of Northwest coast Indian art. The nose of the Shuttle is the strong downward curve of the eagle's beak, and the Shuttle's forward windows, the eagle's eyes, represented through the tapered S forms again typical of this Indian art form.

The basic black and red atoms orbiting the mission number recall the original NASA emblem while beneath, utilizing Indian ovoid forms, the major mission scientific experiment package LMS (Life and Materials Sciences) housed in the Shuttle's cargo bay is depicted in a manner reminiscent of totem-pole art. This image of a bird poised for flight, so common to Indian art, is counterpointed by an equally familiar Tsimshian Indian symbol, a pulsating sun with long hyperbolic rays, the symbol of life. Within each of these rays are now encased crystals, the products of this mission's 3 major, high-temperature materials processing furnaces. And as the sky in Indian lore is a lovely open country, home of the Sun Chief and accessible to travelers through a hole in the western horizon, so too, space is a vast and beckoning landscape for explorers launched beyond the horizon.

Beneath the Tsimshian sun, the colors of the earth limb are appropriately enclosed by a red border representing life to the Northwest coast Indians. The Indian colors of red, navy blue, white, and black pervade the STS-78 path. To the right of the Shuttle-eagle, the constellation Delphinus recalls the dolphin, friend of ancient sailors and, now perhaps too, of the 9 space voyagers suggested by this constellation's blaze of 9 stars. The patch simultaneously celebrates international unity fostered by the Olympic spirit of sports competition at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. Deliberately poised over the city of Atlanta, the Space Shuttle glows at its base with the 5 official Olympic rings in the 5 Olympic colors which can also be found throughout the patch, rings and colors which signify the 5 continents of the earth. This is an international mission and for the first time in NASA patch history, astronauts have dispensed with identifying country flags beneath their names to celebrate the spirit of international unity so characteristic of this flight.

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STS-54 Mission Insignia

Designed by the crewmembers, the STS-54 crew patch depicts the American bald eagle soaring above Earth and is emblematic of the Space Shuttle Endeavour in service to the United States and the world. The eagle is clutching an eightpointed star in its talons and is placing this larger star among a constellation of four others, representing the placement of the fifth Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) into orbit to join the four already in service. The blackness of space -- with stars conspicuously absent -- represents the crew's other primary mission in carrying the Diffuse X-ray Spectrometer to orbit to conduct astronomical observations of invisible x-ray sources within the Milky Way Galaxy. The depiction of Earth showing North America is an expression of the crewmembers and NASA's intention that the medical and scientific experiments conducted onboard be for the benefit of mankind. The clouds and blue of Earth represent the crew's part in NASA's Mission to Planet Earth in conducting Earthobservation photography.

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The STS-101 mission patch commemorates the third Space Shuttle flight supporting the assembly of the International Space Station (ISS). This flight's primary tasks are to outfit the ISS and extend its lifetime, and to conduct a spacewalk to install external components in preparation for the docking of the Russian Service Module, Zvezda, and the arrival of the first ISS crew. The Space Shuttle is depicted in an orbit configuration prior to docking with the ISS. The ISS is depicted in the stage of assembly completed for the STS-101 mission, which consists of the United States-built Unity module and the Russian-built Zarya module. The three large stars represent the third ISS mission in the assembly sequence. The elements and colors of the border reflect the flags of the nations represented by the STS-101 crew members, the United States and Russia. The NASA insignia design for Shuttle flights is reserved for use by the astronauts and for other official use as the NASA Administrator may authorize. Public availability has been approved only in the form of illustrations by the various news media. When and if there is any change in this policy, which is not anticipated, it will be publicly announced.

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The STS-105 crew patch symbolizes the exchange of the Expedition Two and Expedition Three crews aboard the International Space Station. The three gold stars near the ascending Orbiter represent the U.S. commanded Expedition Three crew as they journey into space, while the two gold stars near the descending Orbiter represent the Russian commanded Expedition Two crew and their return to Earth. The plumes of each Orbiter represent the flags of the United States and Russia and symbolize the close cooperation between the two countries. The Astronaut Office symbol, a star with three rays of light, depicts the unbroken link between Earth and the newest and brightest star on the horizon, the International Space Station (ISS). The ascending and descending Orbiters form a circle that represents both the crew rotation and the continuous presence in space aboard the ISS. The names of the four astronauts who will crew Discovery are shown along the border of the patch. The names of the Expedition Three and Expedition Two crews are shown on the chevron at the bottom of the patch. The NASA insignia design for Shuttle flights is reserved for use by the astronauts and for other official use as the NASA Administrator may authorize. Public availability has been approved only in the form of illustrations by the various news media. When and if there is any change in this policy, which we do not anticipate, it will be publicly announced.

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ISS Expedition 2 Mission patch
The International Space Station Expedition Two patch depicts the Space Station as it appears during the time the second crew will be on board. The Station flying over the Earth represents the overall reason for having a space station: to benefit the world through scientific research and international cooperation in space. The number 2 is for the second expedition and is enclosed in the Cyrillic MKS and Latin ISS which are the respective Russian and English abbreviations for the International Space Station. The United States and Russian flags show the nationalities of the crew indicating the joint nature of the program. When asked about the stars in the background, a crew spokesman said they "...represent the thousands of space workers throughout the ISS partnership who have contributed to the successful construction of our International Space Station."

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STS-64 Mission Insignia

The STS-64 patch depicts the Space Shuttle Discovery in a payload-bay-to-Earth attitude with its primary payload, Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE-1) operating in support of Mission to Planet Earth. LITE-1 is a lidar system that uses a three-wavelength laser, symbolized by the three gold rays emanating from the star in the payload bay that form part of the astronaut symbol. The major objective of the LITE-1 is to gather data about the Earth's troposphere and stratosphere, represented by the clouds and dual-colored Earth limb. A secondary payload on STS-64 is the free-flier SPARTAN 201 satellite shown on the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) arm post-retrieval. The RMS also operated another payload, Shuttle Plume Impingement Flight Experiment (SPIFEX). A newly tested extravehicular activity (EVA) maneuvering device, Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER), represented symbolically by the two small nozzles on the backpacks of the two untethered EVA crew men. The names of the crew members encircle the patch: Astronauts Richard N. Richards, L. Blaine Hammond, Jr., Jerry M. Linenger, Susan J. Helms, Carl J. Meade and Mark C. Lee. The gold or silver stars by each name represent that person's parent service.

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Susan Jane Helms is a United States Air Force Brigadier General and a former NASA astronaut.

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The STS-102 crew isignia depicts the International Space Station as it looked when Space Shuttle Discovery was docked. Visible elements include the P6 and Z1 trusses, solar arrays from the Russian segment, 2 Pressurized Mating Adapters, and the Multi Purpose Logistics Module that was temporarily attached to the underside of the Unity Node. The numbers "102" represent the mission tail number. The red, white, and blue ribbons surrounding the space station represent that this is a crew rotation flight. The colors represent the nationalities of the crewmembers (Russian and American). Underneath the ribbons are the flags of the three nations who are the major contributors to the mission (from left to right: Russia, United States, Italy). The names of the 4 permanent crewmembers are displayed in gold around the top of the emblem. Attached to the bottom are six names depicting the six rotating crewmembers (Expedition 2 on top and Expedition 1 on bottom).