Space Shuttle Projects

The crew patch for STS-81 , the fifth Shuttle-Mir docking mission, is shaped to represent the Roman numeral V. The Shuttle Atlantis is launching toward a rendezvous with Russia's Mir Space Station, silhouetted in the background. Atlantis and the STS-81 crew spent several days docked to Mir during which time Jerry M. Lineger (NASA-Mir-4) replaced astronaut John Blaha (NASA-Mir-3) as the U.S. crew member onboard Mir. The U.S. and Russian flags are depicted along with the names of the shuttle crew.