The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (the ISS National Lab) today announced the unveiling of its latest mission patch, designed by award-winning filmmaker and producer, Sir Ridley Scott. The mission patch represents all payloads intended for the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory in calendar year 2018. The ISS National Lab is the organization tasked by NASA with managing research on the U.S. National Laboratory onboard the space station. Research leveraging the ISS National Lab is intended to utilize microgravity for the benefit of life on Earth.
During his career as a filmmaker, Ridley Scott has immersed himself in some of the more iconic science fiction feature films of the past five decades. Prominent movies within the science fiction community that Scott has directed or produced (through his production company, Scott Free Productions) include the Alien franchise, Blade Runner, Legend, and The Martian. His love of space exploration and his previous working relationships with NASA helped to forge this mission patch collaboration with the ISS National Lab and the ISS National Lab.
The patch design is focused on a female astronaut in full gear, in the infiniteness of space, looking toward the space station. Scott deemed astronauts to be saints for their brave efforts to explore on behalf of humanity. Within the patch, Scott intended the helmet of the astronaut to be interpreted as a halo, saying “therefore the helmet itself would become… a subliminal suggestion of a saint.”
This video highlights the collaboration between the Lab and Ridley Scott:
