STS-61G

Mission 61-G

This emblem was designed for the 61-G crew who were assigned to launch on May 20, 1986 on the space shuttle Atlantis.  The primary payload was the Galileo spacecraft built by JPL to study the planet Jupiter, which features prominently in the design.  This mission would have seen the second use of the cryogenic Centaur upper stage with the shuttle, which was powerful enough to propel Galileo directly to Jupiter, reaching the planet in only two and a half years in December 1988.  The patch design mirrors that of 61-F, which would have launched only 5 days earlier and been the first use of the Centaur.  The patch traces the flight path of Galileo beginning in Earth orbit then powering toward Jupiter.  The flight path then splits as the Galileo orbiter circles the gas giant and the atmospheric probe plunges toward Jupiter.  After the Challenger disaster in January 1986, the Centaur program was cancelled for safety and cost reasons.  Most of this crew was reassigned to STS-30 in 1989, which deployed the Magellan probe to Venus, and Galileo finally launched in October 1989 using an Inertial Upper Stage on space shuttle Atlantis on STS-36.  Galileo arrived at Jupiter in December 1995.

Reproduction of this design from the source material was guided by David T. Pinson working with  the AB Emblem design team.  

Approximately 4"