Trekkers, Trekkies and Star Trek fanatics everywhere will recognize the language in the headline as Klingon.

Translated into English, the headline means "The commander of the International Space Station is a Klingon!"

Well, not exactly Klingon, but U.S. astronaut Steven Ray Swanson, the current commander of Expedition 40 at the International Space Station, is the first astronaut to have designed a mission patch whose symbols are well and truly inspired by the Klingon Empire in the hit TV and movie franchise, Star Trek.

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For those who haven't followed the voyages in TV and in the movies of the starship, USS Enterprise, the Klingons are an alien warrior race that have sworn to destroy the human race and the United Federation of Planets.

Swanson, who holds a doctorate in computer science, designed an original artwork for the Expedition 40 crew patch that pays homage to Star Trek but looks very, very Klingon.

"Steve grew up watching 'Star Trek,'" said Swanson's wife, Mary.

"He wanted something that was kind of badass," said Mary about her husband's Klingon-inspired patch.

The patch designed by Steve and his daughter, Caroline, is based on the Klingon trifoil logo depicted on the 1990's TV show, Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Father and daughter modified the Klingon emblem and replaced the image of the "Bat'leth," a Klingon sword, with a similar looking icon depicting the ISS.

The Klingon logo surrounds a Russian Soyuz rocket used to ferry astronauts and their supplies to the ISS.

Steve said he designed the logo this way to pay tribute to the role science fiction has had inspiring real space explorers.

NASA's lawyers, however, thumbed down Steve's design citing copyright concerns.

"roSenQatlh, steve. boldly QochQo'chuqlaw' nuqDaq V pagh." ("Thanks, Steve. You boldly went where no man has gone before.")

TagsStar Trek, Klingon, Trekkies, NASA, Trekkers