Luca Parmitano’s “Beyond” mission - name and logo

ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano’s second mission to the International Space Station will be named “Beyond”. Luca will return to space in 2019 as part of Expedition 60/61 alongside Andrew Morgan of NASA and Alexander Skvortsov of Roscosmos. In this video he explains the name and logo.

In selecting “Beyond” Luca was inspired by his fellow ESA astronauts. From the nearness to Earth of Thomas Pesquet’s “Proxima” mission, to the broadening scope of Alexander Gerst’s current “Horizons” mission; Luca saw a path that will push humanity even farther - for the benefit of all. 

What astronauts do on orbit is not for them or for the International Space Station programme. It is for everybody: for Earth, for humanity and it is the only path for us to learn the science and technology to go beyond Earth orbit.

The mission logo illustrates this trajectory. An astronaut looks out into space. The Earth and the orbiting Space Station are reflected in the helmet’s visor. In the distance is the Moon - poised for human return with the Orion spacecraft and exploratory rovers. Beyond is the Red Planet - currently being studied by satellites like ExoMars and Mars Express but one day by humans.

The research Luca will be conducting on ISS will contribute to keeping humans safe on longer exploratory missions. Also on the agenda for Luca are demonstrations that will develop the technological and operational knowledge to allow humans, together with robots, to explore lunar and Martian surfaces from orbit and on the surface.