STS-108

Flag of the United States.svg
Vlajka Spojených států amerických

Flag of Russia.svg
Old flag of Russia from the Tsarist era. This variant is still used today.

ISS insignia.svg
International Space Station insignia.

STS-108 Patch.svg
This is the mission patch of STS-108. Space Shuttle Endeavour is seen approaching the International Space Station. Two astronaut symbols represent the crew commanders of both ISS expeditions. The ascending one represents cosmonaut Yury Onufriyenko of Russia. (The ascending astronaut symbol shows a flag of Russia.) The descending astronaut symbol represents Frank Culbertson of the USA. This represents crew rotation, as three stars are depicted on the symbols. The space shuttle crew members are depicted along the border while the ISS crews are depicted along the chevron on the border of the patch.

• This is the insignia for the STS-108 mission, which marks a major milestone in the assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) as the first designated Utilization Flight, UF-1. The crew of Endeavour will bring the Expedition Four crew to ISS and return the Expedition Three crew to Earth. Endeavour will also launch with a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) that will be berthed to ISS and unloaded. The MPLM will be returned to Endeavour for the trip home and used again on a later flight. The crew patch depicts Endeavour and the ISS in the configuration at the time of arrival and docking. The Station is shown viewed along the direction of flight as will be seen by the Shuttle crew during their final approach and docking along the X-axis. The three ribbons and stars on the left side of the patch signify the returning Expedition Three crew. The red, white and blue order of the ribbons represents the American commander for that mission. The three ribbons and stars on the right depict the arriving Expedition Four crew. The white, blue, red order of the Expedition Four ribbon matches the color of the Russian flag and signifies that the commander of Expedition Four is a Russian cosmonaut. Each white star in the center of the patch represents the four Endeavour crew members. The names of the four astronauts who will crew Endeavour are shown along the top border of the patch. The three astronauts and three cosmonauts of the two expedition crews are shown on the chevron at the bottom of the patch.

STS-108 crew.jpg
Photo of STS-108 crew, as well as ISS Expeditions 3 and 4. NASA photo STS108-S-002 taken August 2001. :Standing at rear (from the left) are the four STS-108 crew members Daniel M. Tani and Linda M. Godwin, both mission specialists; Dominic L. Gorie and Mark E. Kelly, commander and pilot, respectively. In front, from the left, are Daniel W. Bursch, Yuri Onufrienko, Carl E. Walz, Mikhail Tyurin, Frank L. Culbertson and Vladimir N. Dezhurov. :Culbertson, ISS Expedition Three commander, as well as flight engineers Tyurin and Dezhurov, used the Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-105 to reach the station for a lengthy 128 day stay and then returned to Earth aboard Endeavour on STS-108. They were replaced aboard the orbital outpost by Onufrienko, Expedition Four commander, along with Bursch and Walz, both flight engineers. The Expedition Four crew accompanied the STS-108 crew into Earth orbit. Dezhurov, Tyurin and Onufrienko represent Rosaviakosmos.