Crew & Mission
() --- STS-41G had seven crew members -- the largest flight crew ever to fly on a single spacecraft at that time. They included commander Robert L. Crippen, making his fourth Shuttle flight; pilot Jon A. McBride; three mission specialists -- David C. Leestma, Sally K. Ride and Kathryn D. Sullivan -- (the first time two female astronauts had flown together); and two payload specialists, Paul Scully-Power and Marc Garneau, the first Canadian citizen to serve as a Shuttle crew member.
The Artwork
() --- The STS-41G mission insignia focuses on its seven crew members (first to exceed six), the U.S. Flag and the Unity symbol known as the astronaut pin. The pin design in center shows a trio of trajectories merging in infinite space, capped by a bright shining star and encircled by an elliptical wreath denoting orbital flight. The artwork was done by Patrick Rawlings.
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April 1984 after the landing of STS-41C:.
..."Among other things, (Jon) McBride had shown (Robert) Crippen the 41-G crew's emblem, which had just been drawn by an artist in NASA's graphics department, with heavy advice from the crew. Most mission emblems are fraught with symbolism, and this one was no exception.
In the middle was the gold pin all astronauts receive after they first go into space: three golden rocket plumes ending in a gold star, the plumes held by a golden circle representing an orbit. The upper half of the emblem, a big circle, contained a flapping American flag; the lower half was the sky with some of the constellations and stars the astronauts would use as guides, including the Pleiades that McBride had had so much trouble finding prominent among them. One cluster of five stars symbolized the five astronauts. Curving along the bottom were their names with the appropriate male and female symbol after each, for with only two woman aboard they were proud of being the first truly mixed crew"... ..."Crippen approved the emblem. With Crippen back and the emblem in hand, the crew felt that things were beginning to fall into place"....
(June 1984), ..."Among other things, new passengers would screw up the crew's logo: a kind of apron would have to be appended below the circle, with their names and sex. Both were male, further unbalancing things. The two new guys (whom the crew had not yet officially met) were Marc Garneau, a member of the Canadian astronaut corps, and Paul Scully-Power, an Australian-born oceanographer employed by the U.S.Navy"...
From: BEFORE LIFT-OFF, The making of a Space Shuttle crew. By Henry S.F. Cooper, Jr.
Alternate Art
While in training for their mission, the crew instructors made a funny alternate version of the STS-41G patch, its creation is described below.
..."The team was a sort of shadow crew. Ted showed an emblem Shannon had designed for the team, wich was a parody of the crew's own emblem: the flag in the upper half of the circle had caution-and-warning lights instead of stars. Their names arced around the bottom:(Randy) Barckholtz, (Ted) Browder, (Andy) Foster, (Shannon) O'Roark, each followed by the appropriate male or female symbol. And in the center, instead of three rockets zooming upward toward a star, Shannon had drawn three light pens(*) converging; instead of being held together by a golden circle representing an orbit, they were surrounded by the curling, stretchable wire that connected their headsets to their consoles"...
(*) The light pens are used by instructors in the "stand alone" crew training.
From: BEFORE LIFT-OFF, The making of a Space Shuttle crew. By Henry S.F. Cooper, Jr.