Expedition 44 Patch
The Mission Patch:
The International Space Station is positioned in the foreground poised to study Earth, the sun
and cosmos that lie beyond. Two members of the Expedition 44 crew will spend a full year on the
space station, providing valuable experience for future long duration missions into deep space. The
12 Earths represent the planet’s position around the sun over the course of that year. Four of the
Earths are silhouetted in sunlight representing the four month duration of Expedition 44. The nine
stars in the background represent the nine individuals that will visit and work on the space station
during the course of the expedition, including the six-member crew, whose names are inscribed
around the patch’s border, and the three-person Soyuz “taxi” crew. The use of ellipses and circles
throughout the patch reflect a theme of completion or return as investments made in this orbiting
laboratory return benefit to the Earth and its inhabitants.