The official NASA Mission Patch for Apollo 14. The SSEP Mission 8 to ISS Kitty Hawk payload of experiments is named in honor of the Apollo 14 Command Module Kitty Hawk.
The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education, are proud to present the 23 Mission Patches selected for flight to the International Space Station (ISS) for Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) Mission 8 to ISS. The selected flight patches shown below resulted from local art and design competitions meant to capture the spirit of SSEP in each Mission 8 community.
The mission patch competitions foster community-wide awareness and engagement in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program – an initiative that takes students, teachers, and the community at large to the space frontier through immersion in an authentic research experience. The 15 selected Mission 8 microgravity flight experiments from student teams, representing the 14 communities participating in Mission 8 (one community, Suffolk County, NY, is flying two experiments), comprise the SSEP Kitty Hawk experiments payload, named after the Apollo 14 Command Module.
As a historical note, mission patches have been part of human spaceflight since the days of Project Mercury in the 1960s (see, e.g., this page at the NASA History Program Office). The official NASA mission patch for Apollo 14 is shown above. The SSEP Mission Patch competitions therefore allow communities to engage in another authentic aspect of the space program. From an education standpoint, the mission patch component of SSEP forges interdisciplinary connections between STEM fields and art and design, so that SSEP is a true STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) initiative.
Across the 13 of 14 Mission 8 to ISS communities conducting Mission Patch art and design competitions, 4,871 grade K-12 students were engaged, and 3,957 patch designs were submitted. Judges within the communities selected the 23 patches shown below.
You can also read more about the Mission 8 to ISS Patch Competition at the main SSEP website.
1. Calgary, Alberta, Canada – Bishop Carroll High School
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Bishop Carroll High School submitted two mission patches for the SSEP Mission 8 opportunity. The first patch submitted represents students from Bishop Carroll High School. We had a total of 30 grade 10, 11 and 12 students submit designs with a total of 30 patch designs received. We had two junior high schools submit patches. 180 students in grades, 7, 8 and 9 participated in the program. A total of 112 patches were submitted.
2. Toronto, Ontario, Canada – Ryerson University
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This patch competition involved more than 500 students, including; senior high school students in the Toronto District & Toronto Catholic District School boards and Ryerson University (first and second year undergraduates). 117 submissions (of which 13 were group submissions), were screened by a primary review committee, and from this selection, the secondary review committee selected the winner.
3. Toronto, Ontario, Canada – UT Schools
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University of Toronto Schools (UTS) is a university preparatory school, grades 7 through 12. The UTS mission patch design competition was opened up to the entire school – 200 middle school students and 460 high school students. 264 students in grades 7-10 were engaged in the competition and a total of 128 designs for the UTS Mission Patch were received. A judging panel of art teachers narrowed the field to the top 10 designs. A panel of science teachers selected the patch designed by Adrian Koziskie, (Grade 7) as the winning design.
Adrian’s mission patch represents the vastness of space and the future of space exploration. The starry background represents the unknown universe. The tree represents all the life on earth, and is a UTS emblem. The rockets represent the next generation of space explorers and the list of unimaginable discoveries yet to be made when we reach for the stars.
4. Santa Ana, California
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We held two SSEP Mission Patch Competitions for two separate groups in our community. One competition was a district-wide SSEP Mission Patch Competition in which all K-5 SAUSD students were invited to participate. This K-5 district competition received 474 Mission Patch Submissions from students in every grade K-5 from 16 different elementary schools from 488 students. Our winner was a 3rd grader, Jose Mendoza from Pio Pico Elementary. Our 2nd SSEP Mission Patch Competition was open to SAUSD Middle School Students in grades 6-8. This 6-8 competition received 386 Mission Patch Submissions. Our winner was an 8th grader, Jorge Pacheco. In total we had 874 students engaged in the Mission Patch Design Competition.
5. Vista, California
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Vista Unified School District invited approximately 22,000 students to participate in the SSEP Art Patch Design competition and was pleased that 237 elementary students (K-5) and 143 secondary students (6-12), each student submitting one patch design, ultimately participated. In addition to designing their patches, students were asked to write a reflection about the significance of their designs. One winning patch was selected from the elementary level and one from secondary. Among the team members who reviewed patches and selected honorable mention recipients and finalists were teachers, school administrators, librarians, community members and members of the City of Vista Public Arts Commission.
6. Dover, Delaware
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Delaware State University (DSU) held two mission patch design competitions, one for DSU students and one for Dover High School (DHS) students. We received a total of 158 patch designs (138 from DHS and 20 from DSU) from 156 students (138 from DHS, grades 9-12, and 18 from DSU, freshmen through seniors). The DHS patch depicts the blastoff of the rocket carrying DSU’s experiment and the winning patch designs into space. The DSU patch shows DSU’s mascot — the Hornet — in a spacesuit with a DSU flag, reminiscent of the flag that astronauts first planted on the moon, and represents DSU students’ first venture into space. SSEP provided the underserved community that DSU supports with a remarkable opportunity to participate in our nation’s space program. Congratulations to Asia Copper (DHS) and Jannah Williams (DSU), who designed the winning patches for the SSEP Mission 8 Patch Design Competitions in Dover, DE!
7. Montgomery County, Maryland
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Eighty-seven elementary school students and sixty middle school students from Montgomery County Public Schools designed and submitted mission patch designs during the spring of 2015. The mission patch contest was open to all elementary and middle school students in the county. Three schools submitted student designs, two elementary and one middle school. The mission patch contest opportunity was communicated to the elementary art teachers and middle school teachers through the Fine Arts curriculum and Science curriculum supervisors and included in the monthly newsletter to staff members. Two student winners were selected, one from the elementary level, Elke Stumpf from Seven Locks Elementary School and Olivia Miller from Parkland Magnet Middle School. Parkland Magnet Middle School students also submitted over 70 student experiments to be reviewed for selection for the Mission 8 Student Spaceflight Experiment program.
8. Prince George’s County, Maryland
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Thank you for allowing us to be a part of this wonderful mission. Three art teachers from four different schools in Prince George’s County Public Schools participated in the patch design contest. In total, 224 students submitted Mission Patch designs, 100 (grades 5-12) and 124 (grades K-4). Specifically, students were from grades 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9-12. The schools that participated were Mount Ranier ES (teacher: Gayle Lakin), Paint Branch ES (teacher: Gayle Lakin), Thomas Johnson MS (teacher: Christine Wilkin), and Bladensburg HS (teacher: Monique Connealy). We were excited to be part of this historic event!
9. Kansas City, Missouri
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Student Spaceflight Experiments Program Kansas City was open to four charter schools, one home school group and one parochial school located in Kansas City, Missouri. Over 500 students in grades 2-8 were offered the opportunity to participate in the SSEP KC M8 Mission Patch Design Contest and over 450 patches were submitted by 350 students. 40 patches were selected as the local finalists and the winning patch was selected by youth who attended the aSTEAM Village Robotics Camp.
10. Elizabeth, New Jersey
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The Elizabeth Public School District participated in the Mission 8 Space Patch competition. The competition allowed K-4 and 5-8 grade students the opportunity to participate in illustrating the societal benefits linked to new knowledge from space exploration. The art departments in eleven schools administered the contest during art classes. Approximately 448 K-4 students and 372 5-8 students, each submitting an individual design, participated by researching space and integrating their art skills to represent their images. Two patches were selected to fly in the Mission 8 initiative. Excitement grew as participants of our community, administration, and students selected the winning patches. Artists waited with anticipation as student council members tallied the results. Our judges looked for qualifying applications of symbols that are representations of space exploration and its contributions to diverse aspects of everyday life while signifying our school system’s core beliefs.
Congratulations to Celine Liscano (4th grade) and Mya Ching (5th grade) who designed the winning patches.
11. New York, New York – Intrepid Museum
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The Intrepid Museum received 31 Mission Patch entries from 150 public school participants (grades 6-8) and 41 Mission Patch entries from 279 participants through public events (grades K-12). Patch 1 was submitted by a student team from the Institute of Collaborative Education (I.C.E), a New York City public school, one of the five schools that also entered an experiment design for Mission 8. I.C.E. was a runner up in the experiment design competition. The patch depicts the winning spirit of the Intrepid International Space Station Challenge. Patch 2 was submitted by Daniel Medrano, age 7, who entered his design during Family Astronomy Night. Daniel says, “I drew it exactly like a real rocket ship. I wish I could be on it one day when I become an astronaut.” Eric Boehm, curator at the Intrepid Museum, helped select the final winning designs. Congratulations to PS/IS 30, ICE, and Daniel for sending winning experiments and designs soaring towards the stars!
12. New York, New York – NEST+m
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The Mission Patch Art and Design Competition for SSEP Mission 8 to the ISS was open to over 400 students in grades 6-8. A total of 127 students were engaged in the competition resulting in submissions of 45 patches. Many of the students worked in small groups or in pairs. Hanna Yang in 8th grade won the competition.
13. Suffolk County, New York – South Huntington
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Our contest drew 201 entries created by 202 students from grades 3 to 6, and included submissions from three separate schools. The winning patch was created by YiMei Potzinger and Mia Stampfel, fifth graders from Mr. Anthony Fauci and Ms. Anissa McQueen’s class at Maplewood Intermediate School. After narrowing down to nine finalists, 100 district employees and community members voted for the winning patch.
14. Suffolk County, New York – Wyandanch
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The Wyandanch Union Free School District engaged 2,100 grade K-12 students within the district’s four schools: La Francis Hardiman Elementary School, Martin Luther King Elementary School, Milton L. Olive Middle School, and Wyandanch Memorial High School. The competition was open to all students. The judging of the patch designs was divided into two categories. One patch was chosen from grades K-6, and another was chosen from grades 7-12. A total of 223 designs were submitted for consideration, 89 from 68 students in K-6 and 124 from 120 students in 7-12. Out of the category of submissions from grades K-6, artwork produced by Yeni Benitez was selected. Yeni is a student in grade two. Out of the category of submissions from grades 7-12, artwork produced by José Benitez was selected. José is a student in the eighth grade. Although Yeni and Jose share an identical last name, they are not related.