posted 04-26-2011 09:06 AM               

Expedition 30 marks the International Space Station's (ISS) 30th long duration mission.

Expedition 30 begins with Soyuz TMA-02M undocking in November 2011. Three new crew members arrive shortly thereafter with Soyuz TMA-03M.

• NASA astronauts Dan Burbank, commander; and Don Pettit
  
• Roscosmos cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov, Anatoly Ivanishin and Oleg Kononenko
  
• European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut André Kuipers

Expedition 30 mission patch

The International Space Station program is completing the transition from assembly to full utilization as humankind celebrates the golden anniversary of human space exploration.

In recognition of these milestones and especially of the contributions of those whose dedication and ingenuity make spaceflight possible, a fully assembled ISS is depicted rising above a sunlit earth limb. Eastward of the sunlit limb, the distinctive portrayal of the earth's surface illuminated by nighttime city lights is a reminder of mankind's presence on the planet, most readily apparent from space only by night, and commemorates how humans have transcended their earthly bonds throughout the preceding 50 years of space exploration.

The ISS, a unique space-based outpost for research in biological, physical, space and earth sciences, is an impressive testament to the tremendous teamwork of the engineers, scientists and technicians from 14 countries and five national space agencies.

The six crewmembers of Expedition 30, like those who have gone before them, are honored to represent their countries and the international ISS team in conducting research aboard the ISS and adding to the body of knowledge that will enable the world's space faring countries to more safely and more productively live, work and explore outer space, paving the way for future missions beyond low earth orbit, and inspiring young people to join in this great adventure.

posted 04-26-2011 08:57 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Tom:
I believe only previous ones are STS-41G and STS-75.

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posted 04-27-2011 02:56 AM            

The use of the "X" on Apollo 10 was visually very striking - and in my opinion the best use of a roman numeral on any patch.

The "XXX" for ISS-30 is fabulous. For mine however, I think this patch lacks a bit of colour and is a bit depressing. Could have been more uplifting if the sunrise were akin to ISS-35 released the other day.

posted 09-10-2011 04:44 AM               

Looking closer at it, I think I have found a possible explanation.

By redrawing the letters, they must have started at Burbank's name, which did fit in nicely with the chosen font size.

When they moved to the next name (probably Shkaplerov) they were suddenly confronted with the cyrillic 'p' in his name, a so called 'descending' letter, which has a portion below the baseline.

This would not have fit, so they chose a smaller font and continued using it. This way, Kuipers' name also did fit in. Then, they probably simply forgot to change Burbank as well.

Why NASA changes the art at all, is a mystery to me. It can not be the quality of the original art. Maybe the NASA contractor gets hours assigned to draw logo's and simply does it to have a job.

posted 09-10-2011 08:47 AM               

When drawing the names, I take special care in fit the Capital letters just between both blue lines, leaving space enough in their base for Russian letters or Kuiper's & Skaplerov's "p"...