Atlantis and its seven member crew launched June 27, 1995, marking the United States' 100th human spaceflight and the first rendezvous and docking of the Space Shuttle and the Mir Space Station. STS-71 delivered cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev and Nikolai Budarin to the Russian outpost and returned cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov, Gennady Strekalov and astronaut Norman Thagard to Earth.

The attached is a swatch of beta cloth material flown aboard STS-71 as part of the orbiter's payload bay liner. Installed over insulation blankets (in a manner similar to window screening) the liner helped maintain the cleanliness of the payload bay and as such was replaced between missions where configuration needs, damage or discoloration demanded. This liner sample is from a NASA-created and distributed commemorative bookmark.