Crew & Mission

(STS056-S-002 - 17 April 1993) --- STS-56 Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103, crewmembers, wearing launch and entry suits (LESs), pose for their official portrait. These five astronauts are assigned to the STS-56 Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science 2 (ATLAS-2) mission. Left to right are Mission Specialist 2 (MS2) Kenneth D. Cockrell, Pilot Stephen S. Oswald, MS1 Michael Foale, Commander Kenneth Cameron, and MS3 Ellen Ochoa.

The Artwork

(STS056-S-001 - 17 April 1993) --- The official insignia of the NASA STS-56 mission, is a pictorial representation of the STS-56 Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science 2 (ATLAS-2) mission as seen from the crew's viewpoint. The payload bay (PLB) is depicted with the ATLAS-2 pallet, Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) experiment, and Spartan -- the two primary scientific payloads on the flight. With ATLAS-2 serving as part of the "Mission to Planet Earth" project, the crew has depicted the planet prominently in the artwork. Two primary areas of study are the atmosphere and the sun. To highlight this, Earth's atmosphere is depicted as a stylized visible spectrum and the sunrise is represented with an enlarged two-colored corona. Surnames of the Commander and Pilot are inscribed in the Earth field, with the surnames of the mission specialists appearing in the space background.