June 05 - 14, 1991
Columbia

Crew & Mission

(STS040-S-002 -) --- Five NASA astronauts and two scientists serving as payload specialists have been named to fly aboard Columbia, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 102, for NASA's STS-40 mission. Astronaut Bryan D. O'Connor (rear left) is the mission commander, and Sidney M. Gutierrez (rear right) is the pilot. Others are (front, left to right) Payload Specialist F. Drew Gaffney, Payload Specialist Millie Hughes-Fulford, Mission Specialist (MS) M. Rhea Seddon, MS James P. Bagian, and MS Tamara E. Jernigan (rear center). The primary payload for this flight is Spacelab Life Sciences 1 (SLS-1) (note the model of the shuttle with the spacelab module and related hardware depicted). The crewmembers are wearing launch and entry suits (LESs). The crew insignia and the United States flag are displayed in the background.

The Artwork

(STS040-S-001 - ) --- The STS-40 patch makes a contemporary statement focusing on human beings living and working in space. Against a background of the universe, seven silver stars, interspersed about the orbital path of Columbia, represent the seven crew members. The orbiter's flight path forms a double-helix, designed to represent the DNA molecule common to all living creatures. In the words of a crew spokesman, "...(the helix) affirms the ceaseless expansion of human life and American involvement in space while simultaneously emphasizing the medical and biological studies to which this flight is dedicated." Above Columbia, the phrase "Spacelab Life Sciences 1" defines both the Shuttle mission and its payload. Leonardo Da Vinci's Vitruvian man, silhouetted against the blue darkness of the heavens, is in the upper center portion of the patch. With one foot on Earth and arms extended to touch Shuttle's orbit, the crew feels, he serves as a powerful embodiment of the extension of human inquiry from the boundaries of Earth to the limitless laboratory of space. Sturdily poised amid the stars, he serves to link scentists on Earth to the scientists in space asserting the harmony of efforts which produce meaningful scientific spaceflight missions. A brilliant red and yellow Earth limb (center) links Earth to space as it radiates from a native American symbol for the sun. At the frontier of space, the traditional symbol for the sun vividly links America's past to America's future, the crew states. Beneath the orbiting Shuttle, darkness of night rests peacefully over the United States. Drawn by artist Sean Collins, the STS 40 Space Shuttle patch was designed by the crewmembers for the flight.