March 08 - 21, 2001
Discovery

The crew

(February 2001) --- With the full-time occupancy of the International Space Station (ISS), Space Transportation System crew portraits have taken on a new look, as depicted in this composite scene. These ten astronauts and cosmonauts represent the base STS-102 space travelers, as well as the crew members for the station crews switching out turns aboard the outpost. In the top group are, from the left, astronauts James M. Kelly, pilot; Andrew S.W. Thomas, mission specialist; James D. Wetherbee, mission commander; and Paul W. Richards, mission specialist. The bottom left grouping is the Expedition One crew, which includes, from left, cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalev, flight engineer; astronaut William M. (Bill) Shepherd, commander; and cosmonaut Yuri P. Gidzenko, Soyuz commander. At bottom right is the crew who will replace Shepherd and his collegues aboard the station, from the left, astronaut James S. Voss; cosmonaut Yury V. Usachev, Expedition Two commander; and astronaut Susan J. Helms. Usachev, Krikalev and Gidzenko all represent the Russian Aviation and Space Agency.

The Artwork

(January 2001) --- The central image on the STS-102 crew patch depicts the International Space Station (ISS) in the build configuration that it will have at the time of the arrival and docking of Discovery during the STS-102 mission, the first crew exchange flight to the Space Station. The station is shown along the direction of the flight as will be seen by the shuttle crew during their final approach and docking, the so-called V-bar approach. The names of the shuttle crew members are depicted in gold around the top of the patch, and surnames of the Expedition crew members being exchanged are shown in the lower banner. The three ribbons swirling up to and around the station signify the rotation of these ISS crew members. The number 2 is for the Expedition 2 crew who fly up to the station, and the number 1 is for the Expedition 1 crew who then return down to Earth. In conjunction with the face of the Lab module of the station, these Expedition numbers create the shuttle mission number 102. Shown mated below the ISS is the Italian-built Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, Leonardo, that will fly for the first time on this flight, and which will be attached to the station by the shuttle crew during the docked phase of the mission. The flags of the countries that are the major contributors to this effort, the United States, Russia, and Italy are also shown in the lower part of the patch. The build-sequence number of this flight in the overall station assembly sequence, 5A.1, is captured by the constellations in the background.