posted 08-28-2008 05:00 PM               

STS-400 (STS-125 LON) mission patches

Shuttle Endeavour, which will next launch on the STS-126 mission in November, is first being prepared as a rescue vehicle for Atlantis' STS-125 mission, which will service the Hubble Space Telescope. Endeavour will be designated STS-400 if needed for the "Launch-On-Need" flight.

Since Hubble is in a different orbit than the International Space Station, Atlantis' crew cannot use the ISS as a safe haven and follow the usual plan of recovery should their orbiter be damaged beyond repair. NASA therefore developed a flight plan to conduct a shuttle-to-shuttle rescue mission, wherein Endeavour would use its robot arm to grapple the end of Atlantis' arm to act as a bridge for spacewalking astronauts to follow while transferring between orbiters.

The STS-400 crew will the include the same astronauts who flew most recently on Endeavour's flight deck.

Two unofficial patches have emerged for STS-400. The first, the "Space Rescue" emblem, is the design work of a "noted west-coast designer," according to a memo obtained by NASASpaceFlight.com that accompanied both insignias.

This adopts many of the elements seen in a rescue organization's patch - the square cross, bold letterers and border, and simple design. The idea is that the emblem instantly identifies the rescue organization in a crowd of others. In this case, the Shuttle outlines identify the purpose of our organization.

The second patch was designed by the crew and "utilizes a virtually universal emblem of Rescue."

Both of these designs are to be considered "unofficial". NASA has not given either the crew or their flight team any official support for such an emblem.

posted 08-28-2008 07:05 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by NavySpaceFan:
...too bad they did not use a Golden!

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posted 08-29-2008 01:08 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by ShuttleDiscovery:
Why a dog?

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The St. Bernard Dog is a very large breed of dog originally bred for rescue...

Their history has also been connected with the hospice at the Great St. Bernard Pass. First reports of the dogs' presence at the pass date to the 17th century, and they remained loyal companions to the monks there.

The most famous St. Bernard to save people at the pass was Barry (sometimes spelled Berry), who reportedly saved somewhere between 40 and 100 lives.

St. Bernards are often portrayed, especially in comics, cartoons and old live action comedies such as Swiss Miss, with small barrels of brandy worn around their necks. This was supposedly used to warm the victims that the dogs found, although in reality, alcohol (which acts as a vasodilator) would worsen the situation of a person suffering hypothermia. However, the monks of the St. Bernard Hospice deny that any St. Bernard has ever carried casks or small barrels around their necks; they believe that the origin of the image is an early painting.,

posted 09-01-2008 03:11 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by NavySpaceFan:
...too bad they did not use a Golden!

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1. I have three

2. Goldens are used extensively for rescue, especially for avalanche and collapsed buildings.

posted 09-22-2008 12:05 PM               

Tell me about the STS-400 team emblem.

Paul Dye, the lead flight director for the rescue mission, wanted an unofficial space rescue logo for his team. Obviously, no one wants to see that one in actual flight, but he had been getting requests for a patch, I think mostly for report covers and Powerpoint presentations, just for internal use. It turns out that Paul has a background as a firefighter, so he liked the idea of the square cross that evoked the tradition of emergency rescue and first responders.

posted 04-29-2009 07:33 PM               

I'm told though, that the designs remain "unofficial".

posted 06-08-2009 09:00 PM               

The above art may not be reproduced without permission of the artists and/or collectSPACE.

On March 28, 2009, the same day that Discovery landed with the STS-119 crew, astronaut Chris Ferguson asked artist Tim Gagnon if he could design him a patch. Ferguson and his STS-400 crewmates were not satisfied with the designs that they had (especially the Saint Bernard crew patch inherited from the former STS-400 members). Gagnon teamed again with Jorge Cartes and submitted four drafts.

This design was favored by the STS-400 crew of Ferguson, Eric Boe, Stephen Bowen and Shane Kimbrough. Since there was never a formal review, we will never know if it would have been the patch that they wore.

STS-400 Patch, Draft Four

This design for the STS-400 space shuttle launch-on-need (LON) mission uses the international nautical symbol of a lifesaver as the basis for the patch. It provides an instantly recognizable design element as well as natural spacing for the crew members' surnames.

Endeavour is shown rendezvousing with Atlantis to affect the rescue. The gold astronaut symbol illustrates astronauts helping astronauts. The orbital trajectory of the astronaut symbol reaches from one orbiter to the other to symbolize the safe transfer of the crew from the stricken to the rescue ship.

The inner blue circle represents Earth. The rays from the astronaut symbol touch the circle to represent the safe return of the STS-125 crew. Stars may have been added to represent all eleven astronauts.

posted 04-11-2013 10:32 AM               

The Saint Bernard patch was designed by the STS-123-turned-STS-400 crew members. The cross patch was designed by Mike Okuda for the STS-123 crew members, and the life preserver was designed by Tim Gagnon and Jorge Cartes for the STS-126-turned-STS-400 crew members.