Pinning History: Shubhanshu Shukla Joins the Elite 634 | Opinion

On Thursday evening, June 26, when Shubhanshu Shukla entered the International Space Station, Commander Peggy Whitson gave him a special number—634. This means Shukla is the 634th person in the world to go around the Earth in space.

“I am number 634—what an honour,” Shukla said with a smile, making everyone on the ISS and Axiom team laugh. He added, “But truly, it’s a big privilege to be one of the few people who have seen Earth from space the way I have.”

Commander Whitson then gave special gold pins to the two other first-time astronauts on the Ax-4 mission—Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary. The pin has a small 5-pointed star in the center with two rays (lines) coming out from it, like beams of light, showing the idea of space travel. The whole design is surrounded by a gold circle. These pins are given to those who have entered Earth’s orbit. Uznański-Wiśniewski and Kapu became the 635th and 636th people to orbit the Earth.

The gold pin given to astronauts after they complete an orbit around Earth is called the Universal Astronaut Insignia. It was created in 2015 by an international group called the Association of Space Explorers (ASE). Two people, Andy Turnage and Michael Lopez-Alegria, started this idea. They wanted to make a symbol that any astronaut from any country or space agency could wear proudly, no matter where they came from.

Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi said in a 2021 interview, “Even after 60 years since Yuri Gagarin’s first spaceflight, there was no common symbol for all astronauts and cosmonauts who go to space.” He added, “Now, the ASE has created and approved a special symbol that all space travellers can proudly wear.”

Soichi Noguchi carried the first-ever orbital astronaut pin to space during his Expedition 64 mission to the International Space Station. After the mission, this pin was given to Yuri Gagarin’s family as a special tribute to honour his historic spaceflight in 1961, when he became the first human to travel to space.

India’s first astronaut, Rakesh Sharma, flew to space on the Soyuz-T10 mission and became the 138th person to orbit the Earth. Now, Shubhanshu Shukla has joined this list. He proudly wears his gold astronaut pin as he begins two weeks of research work on the International Space Station.

History of Astronaut Pins

The Association of Space Explorers (ASE) gives out two types of pins to astronauts:

Orbital Pin – For astronauts like Shubhanshu Shukla and the Ax-4 crew, who flew all the way around the Earth in their spacecraft. This is called an orbital flight.

Sub-orbital Pin – For astronauts who cross the boundary of space but don’t go all the way around the Earth.

Both pins are given to honour space travellers for their missions.

Before the ASE created a common pin, each country had its own design. For example, NASA gave its own pins to American astronauts.The first astronaut pins in the United States were given in 1961 to the Mercury 7 crew. They were the first group of American astronauts chosen to go to space.

In 1964, NASA made a new version of its astronaut pin, which is still used today. The pin has a star with rays coming out of it and a small circle at the bottom.NASA gives a silver pin to astronauts after they finish their training. After they go to space, they get a gold pin.

Right now, there are two silver NASA pins on the Moon. One belonged to astronaut Alan Bean, and the other to Clifton Williams.In 1969, when Bean went to the Moon, he took Williams’ silver pin with him to honour his friend, who had died in a jet crash in 1967. Williams had trained as an astronaut but never got the chance to go to space.

(Girish Linganna is an award-winning science communicator and a Defence, Aerospace & Geopolitical Analyst. He is the Managing Director of ADD Engineering Components India Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of ADD Engineering GmbH, Germany. Contact: girishlinganna@gmail.com )

 

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