STS-74 patch or insignia

STS074-S-001 (July 1995) --- Designed by crew members, this STS-74 crew patch depicts the space shuttle Atlantis docked to Russia's Mir Space Station. The central focus is on the Russian-built Docking Module (DM), drawn with shading to accentuate its pivotal importance to both mission STS-74 and the NASA - Mir Program. The rainbow across the horizon represents Earth's atmosphere, the thin membrane protecting all nations, while the three flags across the bottom show those nations participating in STS-74 - Russia, Canada and the United States. The sunrise is symbolic of the dawn of a new era in NASA space flight - that of space station construction. The NASA insignia design for space shuttle flights is reserved for use by the astronauts and for other official use as the NASA Administrator may authorize. Public availability has been approved only in the forms of illustrations by the various news media. When and if there is any change in this policy, which is not anticipated, the change will be publicly announced. Photo credit: NASA