Viewing page 3 of 85

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

CREW CHARACTER

astronauts are assigned to a crew nearly a year before they will fly together in space. From that point on they begin to work toward a common goal. And even the more mundane aspects of their lives become intertwined: they move into the same office and share a secretary, phone lines, book cases, and occassionally parking spaces. This physical proximity helps promote the sense of a unit.

The astronauts instantly develop and cultivate a sense as a unit, beginning with a crew-hosted celebration of the announcement of their selection. Like a softball team choosing uniforms, or a college class choosing a logo, the crew designs its own patch (the emblem for the flight, which will appear in souvenier stands around the country), and selects the setting and props for the crew picture. In the months before launch, they often have special T-shirts made, T-shirts bearing the crew patch, and sometimes the name of the Space Shuttle they will fly. Before STS-7, we bought blue and white striped polo shirts, had "Challenger" stitched on the front; we looked a little like a bowling team, but certainly looked distinctive at breakfast on launch morning.

Patch featuring a black cat on the STS-13.