STS-82 Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle (OV-103), crew insignia

STS082-S-001 (August 1996) --- STS-82 is the second mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The central feature of the patch is HST as the crew members will see it through the space shuttle Discovery?s overhead windows when the orbiter approaches for rendezvous, retrieval and a subsequent series of spacewalks to perform servicing tasks. The telescope is pointing toward deep space, observing the cosmos. The spiral galaxy symbolizes one of HST?s important scientific missions, to accurately determine the cosmic distance scale. To the right of the telescope is a cross-like structure known as a gravitational lens, one of the numerous fundamental discoveries made using HST imagery. The names of the crew members are arranged around the perimeter of the patch with the extravehicular activity?s (EVA) participating crew members placed in the upper semicircle and the orbiter crew in the lower one. 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