STS-40 Spacelab Life Sciences 1 Mission Patch | NASA Space History #2009756 (License: Personal Use)

This diamond-shaped NASA mission patch represents STS-40, flown by Space Shuttle Columbia in June 1991, carrying the Spacelab Life Sciences 1 (SLS-1) module. It features Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man at the center, symbolizing human physiology studies, alongside Earth, a rising sun, and the orbiter silhouette crossing Florida. The crew names-O’Connor, Jernigan, Gutierrez, Seddon, Gaffney, Hughes-Fulford, and Bagian-are inscribed along the red border, with “STS 40” prominently displayed.

Used on NASA mission pages, educational resources, space history exhibits, and astronaut biographies; serves users seeking authoritative visual documentation of early life science missions in low Earth orbit.