NASA's Expedition 21, due to begin in October, will be special for many reasons. To start with, they definitely have the most interesting mission insignia I've seen in years! Their handover from Expedition #20 will require the docking of three Soyuz vehicles to the ISS simultaneously, and Frank de Winne of Belgium will be the first astronaut from the European Space Agency (ESA) to be designated as Commander of a mission.
The remaining crew consists of two Russians, two Americans and one Canadian. Tres Trekian!
If you read yesterday's post, I mentioned that the new Integrated Cardiovascular Study will include 12 astronauts on the space station, and 12 analogs on the ground. The two Americans on Expedition 21, Nicole Stott and Jeffrey Williams (on right), will be the first to test the protocols on the ISS. And of course their participation will be much more in-depth.
I got my own poster from one of the scientists here... one of the many cool things about hopping around Johnson Space Center... folks have stuff like this just lying around their desks!! :)
Anyone can download a high-resolution version at Collect Space.
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