Houston Karate Tournament

Pictured above is NASA astronaut C. Michael Foale holding an American Society of Karate patch during his six month stay as Commander of Expedition 8 on the International Space Station. Commander Foale and the patch launched on a Russian Soyuz TMA-3 spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on October 18, 2003 at 12:38 AM CDT. They docked with the International Space Station approximately 2 days later. Commander Foale returned to Earth on April 29, 2004 but unfortunately the patch remained on the Space Station. It was eventually brought back to Earth on the Space Shuttle Discovery during NASA mission STS-114 (NASA’s Return to Flight). The shuttle landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California on August 9, 2005 at 7:11 AM CDT.

Facts about the patch:

661 days in space.
More than 10400 orbits around the Earth.
Approx. 273,500,000 miles traveled