The official NASA Mission Patch for Apollo 16. The SSEP Mission 10 to ISS Casper payload of experiments is named in honor of the Apollo 16 Command Module Endeavor.
The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education, are proud to present the 17 Mission Patches selected for flight to the International Space Station (ISS) for Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) Mission 10 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 10 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 11 selected Mission 10 microgravity flight experiments from student teams, representing the 11 communities participating in Mission 10, comprise the SSEP Casper experiments payload, named after the Apollo 16 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 16 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 10 of 11 Mission 10 to ISS communities conducting Mission Patch art and design competitions, 7,877 grade K-12 students were engaged, and 7,877 patch designs were submitted. Judges within the communities selected the 17 patches shown below.
You can also read more about the Mission 10 to ISS Patch Competition at the main SSEP website.
1. Camden, Arkansas
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In an effort to engage as many students as possible, Camden Fairview School District conducted a two patch plan for our district SSEP competition. All students in first through fifth grade, who are housed in our three elementary buildings, had the opportunity to submit individual mission patch designs to the art instructor in each elementary building with a total of 607 entries. Camden Fairview Middle School and Camden Fairview High School students in grades six through twelve submitted individual mission patch designs in their art classes to the art instructor in these buildings for a total of 136 entries. A total of 743 entries district-wide.
The winning patch for grades 1-5 was drawn by Amarielle Cooper, a third grader at Ivory Primary School. The winning patch for grades 6-12 was designed by Peyton Ruch, grade 10, Camden Fairview High School.
2. Elk Grove, California
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All students within the Elk Grove SSEP Community schools were invited to participate in our two-patch competition, with one patch selected for primary (K – 3rd) and one for 4th – 6th grades. Classes and individuals at Dillard, Pleasant Grove, and Cosumnes River Elementary Schools, as well as members of the Dillard Art Club in grades 1st – 6th, created and submitted patches. In the end, 129 primary students and 109 intermediate students each submitted a patch. The winning patches were created by third grader Micaella Rothwell and fifth grade student Cora Monson. Students drew on models from earlier SSEP and NASA flight patches as historical symbols other spaceflight missions. Elementary Directors from the Elk Grove Unified School District selected winning patches that showed Elk Grove’s pride in participation in the SSEP program. We’re excited that they will fly in space alongside our winning experiment!
3. iLEAD Consortium, California
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iLEAD School Consortium invited learners to research the history and development of mission patches and then design their own to express iLEAD’s participation in SSEP. 483 grades 5-12 students and 221 grades TK-4 students submitted designs. Each site judged and selected their top two designs, submitting them to our panel of judges, headed by a local graphic designer/college professor, which were evaluated on design and spirit.
The design we chose to turn into cloth patches was submitted by a 6th grade girl from iLEAD Lancaster, a whimsical rocket emblazoned with the iLEAD logo, with the ISS on one side and a shooting star on the other…we are taking off! Our second patch, from a Kindergartener, depicts a space explorer dog riding a rocket through the solar system. Artwork receiving honorable mention was submitted by a 9th gradeer, which will be used as background for a poster showcasing our designs.
4. Lennox, California
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The Lennox School District Mission Patch competition was open to students from K-8. 250 K-5 students from Dolores Huerta Elementary School created submissions. Teachers selected the best submissions from their classes to be passed on to their administrators. The school then narrowed down their submissions to their top 5. At Lennox Middle School, 120 6-8th graders from the Computer Literacy and Art classes created both hand-drawn and computer generated patches for submission. These were narrowed down by their teachers to 12 submissions.
All the finalist submissions were then presented to a review panel of science teachers who selected the 2 winners to represent Lennox for SSEP Mission 10.
5. Middletown, Delaware
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Around 400 students in grades 6-8 at Meredith Middle School competed in the mission patch design competition. During their enrichment period, students were given the template to design their patch. Each enrichment teacher chose their top design, which was then submitted to a review board of teachers from the school. There were 400 patches submitted to their teachers, which reflected in 50 designs being sent to our school review board. The review board then selected the top five designs. An online survey was created, and 476 students at the school voted for their favorite patch design to represent our school. The winning patch was chosen with an overwhelming number of votes!
6. Lansing, Kansas
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The Lansing School District Community held a mission patch art and design competition with the purpose of engaging students in both the scientific and artistic aspects of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program. This contest engaged 620 students in the Middle School, grades 6-8. The Middle School Mission Patch Art and Design Competition was introduced by the science teachers and each science student was required to complete one mission patch. These were completed either within the Art classroom or within the science classroom. Students who were not currently taking Art class had the opportunity to complete a patch in the science classroom. The competition ran from February 22 through March 10th, 2016. The winning patch was submitting by 8th grader Melody Brooks.
7. Clark County, Nevada
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CCSD conducted two mission patch design competitions. One involved the student scientists participating in the experiment design competition at each of the seven participating schools, with 201 students creating designs. The other was open to all grades K – 5 students in each of the seven participating schools, with 3307 students creating designs.
Committees at each school selected and submitted the top five patch designs in each group. A panel of local judges consisting of educators, SSEP program supporters, and local artists selected the final winner from among those top submissions. Both winning designs were created by students at Martha. P. King ES. The Experiment Design was created by Ella Morris and the Art Design was created by Julia Tregnan. Both designs represent relationships between space, earth, and our local community with desert flora and fauna and maps of our state surrounding space related images.
8. Summit, New Jersey
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Students at Kent Place School in Summit New Jersey had the opportunity to take part in the Mission Patch competition in support of our winning Student Spaceflight Experiments Program finalists. The competition was open to students in kindergarten to grade 12, with one competition for Primary School students (K-5) and a second competition for Middle School and Upper School Students (6 – 12). 300 students submitted patch designs in the K – 5 competition and 450 students submitted patch designs in the 6 – 12 competition for a total of 750 students participating school wide. The winning patch in our K – 5 competition was designed by fifth grade student Elina Kapur. The winning patch in our 6 -12 competition was designed in collaboration by ninth grade students Caroline Benou, Charlotte Crutchlow, Sarah Garde, Sejal Gude, Anna Hogarth, Keerthi Jayaraman, Emma Littlejohn, Sarah McDowell, and Amber White.
9. Houston, Texas – Harmony Public Schools
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The Art Department at Harmony Science Academy – Houston High held patch design competition to celebrate our school’s participation in Mission 10. Open to all 9-12 students, the Art Department received just over 120 submissions. Student voting narrowed the selection field to the top 10 designs, which were then presented to the faculty for final consideration. On March 30, the winning design was announced. Though the student has asked to remain anonymous, we are able to proudly submit the winning design attached below.
10. San Antonio, Texas – Southside ISD
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Southside ISD conducted two Mission Patch competitions in support of our winning Student Spaceflight Experiments Program finalists. The competitions were open to students in kindergarten – 8th grade and grades 9 – 12, with campus winners be selected by campus art teachers. 169 students submitted patch designs in the K – 8 competition and 255 students submitted patch designs in the high school competition. The total for Southside ISD was 424 students engaged. The winning patches were submitted by Pearl Huizar (12th Grade) and Iven Lee Garcia (8th Grade).