posted 08-25-2008 10:25 AM               

On November 15, 1990, the space shuttle Atlantis roared into the dark Florida sky on STS-38, the seventh dedicated mission for the Department of Defense. Of the ten classified shuttle missions conducted at the height of the program, STS-38 has been the subject of much speculation due to its secret cargo of two very unusual payloads. Tucked inside the shuttle's payload bay was a classified National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) communications satellite -- known as Quasar -- that would be used to relay data between intelligence spacecraft in low Earth orbit. But the Quasar payload, although highly classified, also served as a cover story for an even more exotic payload -- a stealthy satellite inspection spacecraft, often referred to as "Prowler", designed to sneak up on other satellites undetected, photographing and measuring them in various ways.

Although STS-38's operational secrets were cloaked at great effort and expense, subtler clues hinted at the mission's clandestine nature. The official mission patch for the flight featured two nose-on images of a shuttle orbiter, with a white version on top and a dark version below. According to NASA's image description, "the top orbiter ...symbolizes the continuing dynamic nature of the Space Shuttle Program. The bottom orbiter, a black and white mirror image, acknowledges the thousands of unheralded individuals who work behind the scenes ...this mirror image symbolizes the importance of their contributions."

But NASA has never disclosed that there was also a secret patch designed for this mission: an emblem that had a darker border. Most notably, the shuttles were inverted, with the black orbiter -- the classified mission's on top, and the white orbiter on the bottom. It was an inside joke by the all-military crew about the true nature of their mission.

posted 07-23-2018 04:52 PM               

As he signed my patch pages, Col. Springer told me that he had designed both of the STS-29 and STS-38 mission patches. "You can tell they were both designed by an engineer," he told me with a smile, "they are very orthogonal."

He then asked me if I knew why his name was at the bottom center of both patches. I said I didn't know. Again he smiled and said, "I designed them – I could put my name wherever I wanted!"