View of the SPARTAN satellite during its release into orbit

STS077-711-054 (21 May 1996) --- The Spartan 207 free flyer is held in the grasp of the Remote Manipulator System (RMS). As photographed through an overhead window on the Space Shuttle Endeavour?s aft flight deck, the satellite is backdropped against a heavily sunglinted horizon over the Middle East. The Spartan was re-captured by the six crew members on May 21, 1996 following a period of free-flight. The Endeavour crew spent a portion of the flight time in various activities involving the Spartan 207 and the related Inflatable Antenna Experiment (IAE). The Spartan project is managed by NASA?s Goddard Space Flight Center for NASA?s Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.