When I view the Icon of the Ascension from a distance (about 40 feet for the church-sized 13 x 17 Icon) two things become very striking. Both become much less apparent on closer examination from only a few feet away:

First, there is an unmistakeably Cruciform design; the verticle axis being the Mandola and the Theotokos; the horizontal being the spacial separation deliniated by a slice of sky between Christ and the Angels, and the Apostles.

Second, the shape of the "men in white" on either side of the Theotokos strongly suggest a chalice and the mandola with Christ, a Host suspended above the chalice.

It is surely no accident that the God-bearer is positioned in front of this subliminal image of how Christ continues to be borne to His people.

On Ascension Thurs. when I first entered the church/temple (calling our churches temples is a venerable custom but unfortunately almost always puts me in mind of something pagan or Mormonistic)and went to venerate the icon of the feast, 2 things ocurred:
1) it struck me that you can't tell for sure if in the icon the Lord is ASCENDING into heaven or if it depicts the Parousia;
2) the lyics from that insipid little song from the '60s entered into my distracted mind: "Up, up and away, in that beautiful, that beautiful baloon..."