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| Artwork |
The logo for the Alisse mission features the wing of a bird enclosing images of the ISS and Shuttle, either side of two sets of horizontal lines. The horizontal lines symbolise different aspects of the mission. The two sets represent the two spacewalks to be undertaken by Christer Fuglesang during the mission. The bird's wing adds to this symbolism of the spacewalks, as Fuglesang will seem to be flying around the ISS almost like a bird without the constraints of gravity. The horizontal lines further evoke the wind through which the Shuttle flies in the logo to reach the ISS. The two sets of lines symbolise the Shuttle and ISS in their separate orbits as they close for docking. They also represent the two ESA astronauts on the Station during the mission. The four individual lines also suggest the four space agencies of the astronauts on the Station during the mission. The bird's wing and the symbols it encompasses also suggest how a bird looks down on Earth, while floating on the alize wind, similar to how the astronauts will look down on Earth from space. The left-hand part of the ESA logo suggests the Moon as a future step for the Agency's exploration goals, built on its current and past missions to the ISS. The mission name highlights the letters 'ISS' to suggest the mission's target.
| Why Alisse |
Selected from around 190 suggestions, the winning name for Fuglesang's mission was proposed by Jurgen Modlich from Baierbrunn, Germany. The name refers to the 15th century explorers who used the trade winds to follow Christopher Columbus across the oceans to the New World. One of the most famous trade winds is the alize (or alize), a steady north-easterly wind that blows across central Africa to the shores of America. By changing the letters 'iz' to 'iss', the target of today's explorers is encompassed in the mission name: Alisse. In our new world, to reach Columbus (ESA's laboratory on the ISS), we must follow the wind up to the skies and meet people from other continents on the International Space Station.
| Variation |
A variation of the Alisse patch: it is larger than the better known versions. The story from one of the people involved: ,,It was produced as a 'test' of suppliers with permission of Esa Human Spaceflight, since the original 'small' ones were produced at very low cost by a company not really specialised in space patches. We hope this now is the standard maintained... At least Christer Fuglesang now has his own decent mission patch!"