Soyuz TM-17 / EO-14


1993


Crew & Mission

Left: Serebrov, Tsibliev and Haigneré in training Sokols, wearing a Gagarin Training Center patch on the right sleeve. Right: The crew with back ups Usachev, Deshays and Afanasyev in TK-suits. Tsibliev is wearing his personal Molchanov/Stewart patch. The TM-17 mission patch was not available yet. Serebrov had adapted the VAKO-Soyuz logo as his personal patch.

Mission


The Flight Sokols

Left: Haigneré, Tsibliev and Serebrov ready for launch. Note the mission patch on Serebrov's left arm and the Altaïr patch on Haigneré's right arm. Center / Right: In addition to the Altaïr patch, Serebrov was wearing a circular Vako-Soyuz patch on his right arm.


Left: The crew ready for launch. Right: Close-up of Haigneré wearing the mission patch, the French flag, the Zvezda-patch and the CNES-logo.

All three cosmonauts were wearing the Altaïr patch on the right shoulder, the Zvezda-logo at their chests and a special mission patch on their right arm. Serebrov was wearing a Vako-Soyuz patch on the right arm as well. Haigneré was wearing a yellow-type French patch flag at the left arm and the white/blue CNES-worm on the left chest; the cosmonauts were wearing a Russian flag on their left arm.


IVA Gear



The Orlan EVA-suits

The VAKO Soyuz patch worn by Serebrov on Orlan DMA-14 during one of the four EVA's
he performed with Tsibliev.


Patch History
Being an international mission, the Altaïr patch was the official mission logo. It was probably produced through CNES. On launch day, the cosmonauts were also wearing a personal "launch" patch on their Sokols, however. It was fully embroidered, but not sewn to the Sokol suit - it was tied around the left arm with two straps, so the crew could keep it a secret until the last possible moment. The patch was designed by "a friend" of Tsibliev and only three were produced. Tsibliev proudly claims this was the first "real" Russian crew patch. After a long period of research, Jaap Terweij of Spaceview managed to photograph the patch in 2004 from the personal collection of Serebrov.

Stewart Aviation in England did receive another design for the mission (Stewart 1327) from Vadim Molchanov. It was drawn by Konstantin Lantratov of Novosti Kosmonavtiki, in the same way he had done for EO-13. It has some similarities in design and color with the Tsibliev patch, which most likely is no coincidence. Lantratov was at Baikonur on July 1, 1993, reporting the launch for Novosti Kosmonavtiki, where he must have seen at least a glimpse of the Tsibliev emblem. Since Lantratov's design was first published in the magazine on July 15 (Novosti Kosmonavtiki used only the official Altaïr emblem in earlier issues), it was probably inspired by what he memorized from launch day.

Stewart Aviation also produced the personal Molchanov patch for Tsibliev, which was done well before the launch. He was the only TM-17 cosmonaut to wear such a patch during training. No patches were designed by Molchanov for Haignere and Serebrov. Serebrov used the VAKO-Soyuz-patch as his personal logo before and during the mission.


Left: Lantratov's design, as used in the magazine Novosti Kosmonavtiki. Center: The Stewart Aviation patch. Right: The patch, worn by Tsibliev along with his personal patch (also made by Stewart) during Shuttle-Mir training in 1996.

TM-17/EO-14 cosmonaut Tsibliev was later seen wearing the Stewart Aviation mission patch, along with his personal Stewart emblem (1249) during Shuttle-Mir training, indicating this was indeed considered as an "official" patch by the cosmonauts. Also, Stewart did receive back "one of their patches" in April 1994 through Molchanov, with the Mir-onboard stamps on the back and a note from Tsibliev and Serebrov. Although the mission patch had not been ready before flight, Molchanov and Lantratov met with the next crew (Soyuz TM-18) in December 1993, handing them their patches personally. The TM-18 crew probably took up some EO-14 patches to Tsibliev and Serebrov. Another possibility is that it concerned Tsibliev's personal patch, which was ready in time to fly the entire mission.


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