About the Alissé mission logo

The horizontal lines symbolise different aspects of the mission. The two sets represent the two spacewalks to be undertaken by Christer Fuglesang during the mission. The bird’s wing adds to this symbolism of the spacewalks, as Fuglesang will seem to be flying around the ISS almost like a bird without the constraints of gravity.

The horizontal lines further evoke the wind through which the Shuttle flies in the logo to reach the ISS. The two sets of lines symbolise the Shuttle and ISS in their separate orbits as they close for docking. They also represent the two ESA astronauts on the Station during the mission.

The four individual lines also suggest the four space agencies of the astronauts on the Station during the mission. The bird’s wing and the symbols it encompasses also suggest how a bird looks down on Earth, while floating on the alize wind, similar to how the astronauts will look down on Earth from space.

The left-hand part of the ESA logo suggests the Moon as a future step for the Agency’s exploration goals, built on its current and past missions to the ISS. The mission name highlights the letters ‘ISS’ to suggest the mission’s target.

STS-128 mission patch

Each Shuttle crew has their own crew patch. The patch adorns the crew's clothing, spacesuits and other crew items. The patch designs are often full of symbolic references.

The STS-128 patch symbolises the 17A mission and represents the hardware, people and partner nations that contribute to the flight.

The Space Shuttle is shown in the orbit configuration with the Multi Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) Leonardo in the payload bay. Earth and the International Space Station wrap around the Astronaut Office symbol reminding us of the continuous human presence in space.

The names of the STS-128 crewmembers border the patch in an unfurled manner. Included in the names is the Expedition crewmember who will launch on STS-128 and remain on the ISS, replacing another Expedition crewmember who returns home with STS-128.

The banner also completes the Astronaut Office symbol and contains the U.S. and Swedish flags representing the countries of the STS-128 crew.

(Note: The NASA insignia design for Space 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.)