Kathryn C. Thornton

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STS-61 Crew Insignia

The STS-61 crew insignia depicts the astronaut symbol superimposed against the sky with the Earth underneath. Also seen are two circles representing the optical configuration of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The Space Shuttle Endeavour is also represented. The overall design of the emblem, with lines converging to a high point, is also a symbolic representation of the large-scale Earth-based effort to reach goals of knowledge and perfection.

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STS-33 Mission Insignia

This is the crew patch for STS-33, designed by the five crewmembers. It features a stylized falcon soaring into space to represent America's commitment to manned space flight. The crewmembers feel the falcon symbolizes courage, intelligence, tenacity, and love of flight. They intend the orbit around Earth to represent the falcon's lofty domain; however, the bird, with its keen vision and natural curiosity, is depicted looking forward beyond that domain to challenge the edge of the universe. The bold red feathers of the wings drawn from the American flag overlaying the random field of stars illustrate the determination to expand the boundaries of knowledge by American presence in space. The single gold star on a field of blue honors the memory of the late Rear Admiral S. David Griggs, originally assigned to this crew.

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STS-49 Patch

• STS-49 Endeavour, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 105, crew insignia (logo), the official insignia of the NASA STS-49 mission, captures space flight's spirit of exploration which has its origins in the early seagoing vessels that explored the uncharted reaches of Earth and its oceans. The ship depicted on the patch is HMS Endeavour, the sailing vessel which Captain James Cook commanded on his first scientific expedition to the South Pacific. Just as Captain Cook engaged in unprecedented feats of exploration during his voyage, on Endeavour's maiden flight, its crew will expand the horizons of space operations with an unprecedented rendezvous and series of three space walks. During three consecutive days of extravehicular activity (EVA), the crew will conduct one space walk to retrieve, repair and deploy the INTELSAT IV-F3 communications satellite, and two additional EVAs to evaluate the potential Space Station Freedom (SSF) assembly concepts. The flags flying on Endeavour's masts wear the colors of the two schools that won the nationwide contest when Endeavour was chosen as the name of NASA's newest Space Shuttle: Senatobia (Mississippi) Middle School and Tallulah Falls (Georgia) School The names of the STS-49 flight crewmembers are located around the edge of the patch. They are Commander Daniel C. Brandenstein, Pilot Kevin P. Chilton, Mission Specialist (MS) Pierre J. Thuot, MS Kathryn C. Thornton, MS Richard J. Hieb, MS Thomas D. Akers, and MS Bruce E. Melnick. Each crewmember contributed to the design of the insignia.

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Kathryn C. Thornton (Ph.D.), NASA Astronaut (missions STS-33, STS-49, STS-61, STS-73)

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The crew patch of STS-73, the second flight of the United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML-2), depicts the Space Shuttle Columbia in the vastness of space. In the foreground are the classic regular polyhedrons that were investigated by Plato and later Euclid. The Pythagoreans were also fascinated by the symmetrical three-dimensional objects whose sides are the same regular polygon. The tetrahedron, the cube, the octahedron, and the icosahedron were each associated with the Natural Elements of that time: fire (on this mission represented as combustion science); Earth (crystallography), air and water (fluid physics). An additional icon shown as the infinity symbol was added to further convey the discipline of fluid mechanics. The shape of the emblem represents a fifth polyhedron, a dodecahedron, which the Pythagoreans thought corresponded to a fifth element that represented the cosmos.