A visible-light image of the Andromeda Galaxy, taken by Torben Hansen.
CC Torben Hansen

Juno Mission Patch

The Juno mission in 1991 was the first time a British person flew in space. Britain did not have an astronaut programme, so a private consortium formed to raise the funds to buy a seat on a Soviet mission for a British candidate. Helen Sharman was selected over 13,000 other applicants, after hearing Project Juno’s advert, “Astronaut wanted, no experience necessary”.

After undertaking cosmonaut training in Star City in the Soviet Union, Sharman launched into space on Soyuz TM-12 with Anatoly Artsebarsky and Sergei Krikalev. It took the crew two days to reach the MIR space station, where Sharman undertook a programme of science experiments and educational outreach.

The mission patch for the Juno Mission features the symbol of a flying goose, taken from Greek mythology. Aphrodite’s chariot was pulled by geese and the birds were also said to guard the temple of Juno in Rome. It features both the United Kingdom and Soviet flags.

More information

Object number

2020-6

Location

Artefact Store

Has this object been into space?

No

Material

Cotton

Materials & techniques note

Embroidered

Associated Person

Helen Sharman

Object Production Date

Circa 1991

Object Production Organisation

Stewart Emblems

Object Production Place

Leicestershire
Market Harborough
United Kingdom

On Display Status

Not on display

Copyright and Photos

Photography is shared via the license below.

However, some objects on this website are on loan to the National Space Centre and are being shared through the permission of their owners.

Commercial use of images from this website is not allowed without additional permissions being granted. To request permission to use images for purposes not covered in the license below, please contact [email protected]

Individual objects on loan to the National Space Centre may have additional copyright permissions, so advice should always be sought before use.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.