Visualising Fly!

Fly! represents ESA's commitment to pave the way for a professional astronaut with a physical disability to reach space for a long-duration mission to the International Space Station. 

This objective is illustrated in the Fly! key visual. 

The image shows an astronaut with a prosthetic leg gazing towards the International Space Station, depicted as a radiant star in the top right.  

The astronaut walks steadily along an uneven path, representing the challenges faced by individuals with disabilites and the determination to overcome them in the pursuit of human space exploration.  

The astronaut’s shadow depicts an astronaut in a spacesuit, challenging preconceptions of what an astronaut should look like. With each step, the astronaut’s footprints leave behind the words “Always go the extra mile” on the path to inspire others to reach for their dreams.  

Ahead of the astronaut gazing into the sky, the Orion constellation shines with eight stars, representing the eight members of the team driving the Fly! initiative forward. The constellation also pays tribute to the Orion spacecraft, engineered to carry astronauts beyond low Earth orbit and to the Moon, which appears prominently in the sky as a testament to humankind’s next great leap in space exploration. 

In the lower right, four flowers symbolise the personal support from family essential to the achievements of Fly!