Atlantis’ External Tank to Feature Commemorative Logo
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Today NASA announced that when STS-135 (Atlantis) launches in July, its external tank (ET-138) will feature a commemorative logo on its side, which will be only the second time in the history of the shuttle program this has been done.
Space shuttle commemorative logo designed by Blake Dumesnil, an engineer at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Image Credit: NASA/Blake Dumesnil
According to the press release: The “nose art” is the winner of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program Commemorative Patch contest. The emblem is featured on an three foot by five foot access door near the top of the external tank.
The logo is featured in the image to the left, where you can see the space shuttle surrounded by panels depicting the U.S. flag, 14 stars to commemorate the astronauts lost aboard shuttles Challenger and Columbia, and five panels symbolizing the entire shuttle fleet, including Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis. It is surrounded by a blue circle and contains the inscription, “Space Shuttle Program, 1981-2011,†the years the shuttles flew.
The logo was designed by Blake Dumesnil, an engineer at Johnson Space Center in Houston, and was painted on the door by Lockheed Martin graphic artist Jon Irving, who works at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where the tanks are built.
Irving hand painted the design on the door at Michoud and it was shipped to Kennedy Space Center, Fla., where it will be installed on the tank before the launch of shuttle Atlantis on the STS-135 mission, scheduled for July 8.
Source:NASA Shuttle Program Press Release
Ray Sanders is a Sci-Fi geek, astronomer and blogger. Currently researching variable stars at Arizona State University, he writes for Universe Today, The Planetary Society blog, and his own blog, Dear Astronomer
2012-12-04 08:06:12
Source: http://www.dearastronomer.com/2011/06/09/atlantis-external-tank-to-feature-commemorative-logo/
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