STS-41G Mission Patch

STS-41G Mission Patch

This patch commemorates the Space Shuttle mission STS-41G, a spaceflight mission flown by the crew of Robert Crippen, Jon McBride, Kathryn Sullivan, Sally Ride, David Leestma, Paul Scully-Power, and Marc Garneau.

The mission patch is the first NASA mission patch to incorporate an add on name tab at the bottom. This was done because the two names at the bottom were the payload specialists for the mission; roles which were not selected until after the patch design had been done. The add on tab allowed these to be retro-fitted by manufacturers.

The patch design includes the astronaut pin, a gold pin that all astronauts receive after they've travelled into space. All of the names on the patch are followed by either male or female symbols, which were incorporated into the design to reflect that this was the first really mixed crew - with two women aboard. A Canadian flag is also featured for the first Canadian in space, Marc Garneau.

This particular patch was part of a collection of patches acquired by British-born professor of endocrine and metabolic surgery Anthony Goode, during his years working with NASA’s Life Sciences Division.