ISS:
Russian Space Forces Medal
Year: 2004
Mint/Issuer: Moscow Mint / AMCOS
Mintage: 5 that were flown
Additional Information:
The Space Forces medal also called On Board Pennant, because beside the fact they were minted from flown metal it was also intended to be flown. It was done in same style (in color) as earlier On Board Pennants issued for Interplanetary flights during Luna/Moon, Mars and Venera/Venus probes and pennants issued for board of Salyut and MIR space stations. Production of such were exclusive and very limited (for presentations to Space Forces officials) and not available to the general public. Originally these medals/pennants were minted from flown metal to be used during presentations to Launch Team officers/technicians at both Cosmodromes: Baikonur and Plesetsk. 5 of these medals were taken on board of Soyuz TMA-5 to the ISS, Salizhan Sharipov and Yuri Shargin, flew on Soyuz to the ISS to serve Expedition-10. Yuri was the first Space Forces cosmonaut. He is the one who actually helped to get these unique medals, and took them to the station. They were returned on board Soyuz TMA-4 by Soyuz commander Gennadiy Padalka. Gennadiy photographed this pentagonal medal floating next to root module Lada (where plants are grown).
Medal Obverse:
Depicts Russian Space Forces wing on the top, Russian flag surrounding the globe and on the map indicated:-Moscow with little red star; Plesetsk Spaceport (north from Moscow) with a dot and red arrow; Baikonur Spaceport (south, in Kazakhstan) with dot and red arrow.
Medal Reverse:
Reads "Voenno-Kosmicheskie Sily, Rossiya" (Military Space Forces, Russia) and shows official emblem of Space Forces.
