Richard N. Richards

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STS-28 mission patch

• The STS-28 insignia was designed by the astronaut crew, who said it portrays the pride the American people have in their manned spaceflight program. It depicts America (the eagle) guiding the space program (the Space Shuttle) safely home from an orbital mission. The view looks south on Baja California and the west coast of the United States as the space travelers re-enter the atmosphere. The hypersonic contrails created by the eagle and Shuttle represent the American flag. The crew called the simple boldness of the design symbolic of America's unfaltering commitment to leadership in the exploration and development of space.

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STS-41 Mission Insignia

The STS-41 crew patch, designed by the five astronaut crewmembers, depicts the Space Shuttle orbiting Earth after deployment of its primary payload -- the Ulysses satellite. The orbiter is shown passing over the southeastern United States, representative of its 28-degree inclination orbit. Ulysses, the Solar Exploration Satellite, as the fastest man-made object in the universe, traveling at 30 miles per second (over 100,000 mph) is represented by the streaking silver teardrop passing over the sun. Ulysses' path is depicted by the bright red spiral originating from the Shuttle cargo bay. The three-legged trajectory, extending out the payload bay, is symbolic of the astronaut logo and is in honor of those who have given their lives in the conquest of space. The five stars, four gold and one silver, represent STS-41 and each of its crewmembers.

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portrait astronaut Richard Richards

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STS-64 Mission Insignia

The STS-64 patch depicts the Space Shuttle Discovery in a payload-bay-to-Earth attitude with its primary payload, Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE-1) operating in support of Mission to Planet Earth. LITE-1 is a lidar system that uses a three-wavelength laser, symbolized by the three gold rays emanating from the star in the payload bay that form part of the astronaut symbol. The major objective of the LITE-1 is to gather data about the Earth's troposphere and stratosphere, represented by the clouds and dual-colored Earth limb. A secondary payload on STS-64 is the free-flier SPARTAN 201 satellite shown on the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) arm post-retrieval. The RMS also operated another payload, Shuttle Plume Impingement Flight Experiment (SPIFEX). A newly tested extravehicular activity (EVA) maneuvering device, Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER), represented symbolically by the two small nozzles on the backpacks of the two untethered EVA crew men. The names of the crew members encircle the patch: Astronauts Richard N. Richards, L. Blaine Hammond, Jr., Jerry M. Linenger, Susan J. Helms, Carl J. Meade and Mark C. Lee. The gold or silver stars by each name represent that person's parent service.

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The crew patch of STS-50, United States Microgravity Laboratory-One (USML-1), captures a Space Shuttle traveling above Earth while trailing the USML banner. The Orbiter is oriented vertically in a typical attitude for microgravity science and in this position represents the numeral 1 in the mission's abbreviated title. This will be the first in a series of USML flights where the primary objective is microgravity science, planned and executed through the combined efforts of our country's government, industry, and academia.

Visible in the orbiter's payload bay are the Spacelab module, and the extended duration Orbiter "cryo" pallet which is being flown for the first time on STS-50. The small g and Greek letter mu on the Spacelab module symbolize the microgravity environment being used for research in the areas of materials science and fluid physics. The large block letter U extends outside of the patch's perimeter, symbolizing the potential for the experiments on this flight to expand the current boundaries of knowledge in microgravity science.

The Stars and Stripes of the USML block letter and the U.S. landmass visible in the Earth scene below the Orbiter reflect the crew's pride in the United States origin of all on-board experiments.