posted 03-16-2025 01:06 PM               

Kirby Kahler wrote about the custom and its history for The Space Review ("Walking through the doors of history: unlocking a space tradition") in 2020.

The posting of the first mission sticker at the O&C began with STS-87 on November 19, 1997. The decal first appeared directly in the middle of the doorway "head" prior to the mission. It is not immediately identifiable as it does not match in any of the sticker databases. This became Mystery Sticker 1, and needed further investigation.

Questions also arose considering this tradition and why it started with STS-87, as there were many prior shuttle missions. It was also discovered that there were two NASA signs with stickers, but NASA Sign 1 disappeared after STS-114.

It is not known whose idea it was or why the tradition began with STS-87 in 1997 (as pictured above). The decal that was added was not their mission patch but the insignia for one of their payloads, Spartan 201.

Kirby's article has a list of the missions represented from STS-87 through SpaceX Demo-2. There are also decals for Expedition 4, Expedition 5, JAXA's Kibo pressurized lab (launched on STS-124), Naoko Yamazaki's personal patch for STS-131 and the shuttle crew escape team.

For reasons unknown, there are no decals for STS-88, STS-95, STS-102, STS-113, and STS-117.

Since Kirby's article was published, additional decals have been added (through SpaceX Crew-10, as pictured above):

Left Jam (top to bottom, starting below STS-128):
• SpaceX Crew-9
  
• STS-51A
  
• SpaceX Crew-10

  Right jam (top to bottom, starting below STS-117):

• STS-109 (previously on sign 1)
  
• SpaceX Crew-3
  
• SpaceX Crew-4
  
• SpaceX Crew-5
  
• SpaceX Crew-6
  
• SpaceX Crew-7
  
• SpaceX Crew-8

  NASA "meatball" sign 2 (in order of placement, after Yamazaki's patch):

• U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds
  
• SpaceX Crew-1
  
• SpaceX Crew-2 (covering Yamazaki's patch)
  
• Starliner Crew Flight Test