The content of this post is an adaptation of an original text written by Guy Laliberté.

The FSA, Russia’s Federal Space Agency, has confirmed the logo of the TMA-16 mission that will be flying me into space! The tradition is for children to submit their designs for selection. For the TMA-16, the winning entry was from Nastya Mestyashova, a 14-year-old girl from the Orenburg region of Russia.

The central motif of the emblem is a cosmonaut with three big stars (a dark blue one for Jeffrey Williams of NASA, a light blue one for me and a red one for Maxim Surayev). The flags of our three countries are also represented.

The designs at the top right of the logo represent the Universe and life on Earth. The cradle of mankind, the mission’s origin, is represented by a plant that gradually transforms into the rocket contrail and then into the spaceship itself as it heads off to the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS is evoked in the logo by a nine-pointed golden star, which references the nine crew members who will be on board the station once TMA-16 docks with it.

The plant and the rocket contrail combine to form the number 16, which is the number of our mission. In the background, the Earth is shown with the typical grid lines used in previous Soviet and Russian logos, to commemorate erstwhile heroes on Vostok, Voshkod and Soyuz flights.

There is a Roscosmos symbol at the top of the globe, amid the organizations responsible for the flight and as a nod to Commander Surayev. The names Williams and Laliberté are accompanied by the logos of NASA and the ONE DROP Foundation. There is also a little red star and a little blue one for the safe return of Maxim and Jeffrey, who will be coming back to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-16, but only in March 2010.

Maxim Surayev, it should be noted, also had a hand in designing this logo.