ARISS will be supporting SSTV transmissions worldwide in memory of cosmonauts Alexei Leonov, Valery Bykovsky and Sigmund Jähn. Event runs from Dec 28 (11:00 UTC is the setup time) until Jan 1, 2020 (18:20 UTC when the system is scheduled for shutdown). Transmissions should be on the standard frequency of 145.800 MHz and in the PD 120 format.
The picture on the diploma presents the characters of three astronauts who passed away in 2019.
From the left side:
Alexei Leonov – during the flight with the space ship Voskhod 2, on March 18, 1965, as the first man went into open space. The walk lasted 12 minutes and 9 seconds. He made his second space flight within the Soyuz-Apollo program (July 15 -21, 1975). Under this mission Soyuz 19 space ship merged with American Apollo. It was the first ever merger in the orbit of an American and a Soviet ships. In total, three American and two Soviet astronauts flew in both vehicles.
In the years 1970–1991 he was deputy commander of the Cosmonaut Training Center Yuri Gagarin.
He was also known as a painter creating paintings on subjects related to the conquest of space.
He died in Moscow on October 11, 2019, at the age of 85.
Valery Bykovsky – took part in three space missions. For the first time he flew into space in 1963 on board of the Vostok 5 spacecraft. For the second time 13 years later – in 1976 he was the commander of the Soyuz 22 crew. In 1978 he took off into space for the third time – as the commander of Soyuz 31 spacecraft. It was a flight to the Salut 6 space station within the Intercosmos program. He died at the age of 84, on March 27, 2019 in Star City near Moscow.
Sigmund Jähn from the then German Democratic Republic was the first German to fly into space. In the company of the above-mentioned Valery Bykovsky and on board of the Soyuz 31 spacecraft, he went to the Salut 6 space station, on August 26, 1978, as part of the Intercosmos program. After a 7-day trip, 20 hours, 49 minutes and 4 seconds, they both returned to Earth on board of the Soyuz 29 spacecraft. He died at the age of 82, on September 21, 2019 in Strausberg (Germany).