Two more small Lithuanian flags were in space last year

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Two more small Lithuanian flags were in space last year

Paskelbta: 2022-01-03

One day I mentioned the small Lithuanian flag flying in space in the article “Lithuanian Tricolor Travels” (published on October 30). It was flown to ISS on February 20, 2021 on a Cygnus NG-15 commercial mission to deliver cargo to ISS, named after the famous NASA mathematician Catherine Johnson.

The Lithuanian flag has spun its wheels around the Earth for over 120 million kilometers (almost to the Sun for almost 150 million kilometers) will be the symbol of the Lithuanian state that has been in space for the longest time. Together with the Lithuanian flag, the flags of the series of fun adventures in space „The Orville“, were flown in a special case „MISSE-14“ outside the ISS.

It is planned that the Lithuanian flag with other cargo will be flown back to Earth on January 31 using the „SpaceX CRS-24“ cargo resupply device. (author's note - the original plan was scheduled for January 2).

It is not yet known whether the Frenchman was aware that the secondary to the flag of one of the states in his garland was just nearby in space behind the ISS walls.

And here is the information bomb. Unexpectedly, the third small Lithuanian flag "appeared" in space. When preparing an article on the flight of the world's flags into space, I accidentally discovered that on April 24, 2021 along with an integral garland of small flags from all over the world, the French astronaut Thomas Pesquet during the „Crew-2“ mission flew to ISS.

It is not yet known whether the Frenchman was aware that the secondary to the flag of one of the states in his garland was just nearby in space behind the ISS walls.

The essence of his idea was to honor the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics. On the eve of the Olympics, a garland of flags was hung on the ISS "ceiling" (author's note - the concept of the weightlessness of the ceiling does not exist, it is only possible to know whether the head is directed to Earth or outer space).

Before the opening of the Games for the first time in history, the "Olympic" Games took place in Space! The Soyuz team and the Dragon team were made up of 7 astronauts and astronauts from 4 countries, and 4 sports were played in a weightless atmosphere: synchronised floating, lack-of-floor routine, no-handball and weightless sharppshooting (very funny footage).

On the closing day of the Olympics (August 8, 2021), while playing an excerpt from the Olympic anthem, Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide solemnly handed over the Olympic flag to French astronaut Thomas Pesquet as representative of the capital of 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.

Thomas Peskuet returned to Earth on November 8, 2021. It is not yet possible to determine whether the garland of world flags is left in the ISS or whether it was flown back to Earth by the author of the idea himself. It is probable that this garland filled with the Olympic spirit will be exhibited in some well-known museum, maybe someday there will be an opportunity to see it for a short time in Lithuania as well.
By the way, it is a very rare case (perhaps the only one) that two flags of the same state have been flying inside and outside the ISS at the same time for at least 6 months. In a sense, the very rare case for the states launching its first two small nanosatellites into space at once was repeated. In addition to Lithuania, 4 countries have done so - the USA, Italy, Japan, and Denmark, and only the US and Lithuanian nanosatellites have successfully completed the planned mission tasks (author's note - Lithuanian satellites were launched into space on February 28, 2014). I shall write a separate article about the nuances of travel of two small Lithuanian flags, when one of them this spring will be in the Lithuanian Museum of Ethnocosmology.
It should be noted that depending on when the flags of the states dedicated to the Olympics will be (or were) returned to Earth, the record of the longest flight in space of the already mentioned Lithuanian flag may be broken. However, in any case, there will be a significant difference between the achieved records - one of them flew in aggressive space conditions (outside the ISS) and will remain in Lithuania permanently after mandatory decontamination in USA, while the other flown safely inside the ISS - should never (?) enter Lithuania.

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