The STS-84 emblem depicts the Space Shuttle Atlantis lanuching into Earth orbit to join the Russian Space Station Mir as part of Phase 1 of the International Space Station Program.

The names of the eight astronauts who flew onboard Atlantis, including the two who exchanged their positions onboard Mir for a long duration flight, are shown along the border of the patch. The STS-84/Mir-23 team transfered 7000 pounds of experiments, Station hardware, food, and clothing to or from Mir during the five-day docked period.

The Phase 1 Program is represented by the rising Sun and by the Greek letter Phi followed by one star. This sixth Shuttle-Mir docking mission is symbolized by the six stars surrounding the word Mir in Cyrillic characters. Combined, the seven stars symbolize the current configuration of Mir conposed of six modules launched by the Russians and one module brought up by Atlantis on a previous docking flight.