The STS-77 mission was successfully flown from Launch Pad 39B (MLP-1) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on May 19, 1996. This is a civilian mission of NASA with the primary objectives of carrying to orbit the SPACEHAB module, the deployment and inflation of the experimental dish antenna, and four rendezvous operations with two research satellites. Several other payloads will also fly on the Orbiter in the payload bay and on the middeck.

The Space Shuttle Endeavour returned to Kennedy Space Center on May 29, 1996 after its 10 day mission.

The Artwork

The STS-77 crew patch displays the Shuttle Endeavour in the lower left and its reflection within the tripod and concave parabolic mirror of the SPARTAN Inflatable Antenna Experiment (IAE). The center leg of the tripod also delineates the top of the Spacehab's shape, the rest of which is outlined in gold just inside the red perimeter. The Spacehab was carried in the payload bay and housed the Commercial Float Zone Furnace (CFZF). Also depicted within the confines of the IAE mirror are the mission's rendezvous operations with the Passive Aerodynamically-Stabilized Magnetically-Damped satellite (PAM/STU) appears as a bright six-pointed star-like reflection of the sun on the edge of the mirror with Endeavour in position to track it. The sunlight on the mirror's edge, which also appears as an orbital sunset, is located over Goddard Space Flight Center, the development facility for the SPARTAN/IAE and Technology Experiments Advancing Missions in Space (TEAMS) experiments. The reflection of the Earth is oriented to show the individual countries of the crew as well as the ocean which Captain Cook explored in the original Endeavour.

The mission number "77" is featured as twin stylized chevrons and an orbiting satellite as adapted from NASA's logo. The stars at the top are arranged as seen in the northern sky in the vicinity of the constellation Ursa Minor. The field of 11 stars represents both the TEAMS cluster of experiments (the four antennae of GPS Attitude and Navigation Experimen(GANE), the single canister of Liquid Metal Thermal Experiment (LMTE), the three canisters of Vented Tank Resupply Experiment (VTRE), and the three canisters of PAM/STU) and the 11th flight of Endeavour. The constellation at the right shows the fourth flight of Spacehab Experiments.

Souvenir

The souvenir version of the STS-77 patch has the name of the Orbiter Endeavour on it