The official NASA Mission Patch for Apollo 12. The SSEP Mission 6 to ISS Yankee Clipper payload of experiments is named in honor of the Apollo 12 Command Module Yankee Clipper.
The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education, are proud to present the 29 Mission Patches selected for flight to the International Space Station (ISS) for Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) Mission 6 to ISS. The patches will accompany the 18 selected microgravity flight experiments from student teams, representing the 18 communities participating in Mission 6. The experiments and patches will be flown as the SSEP Mission 6 Yankee Clipper II payload, named for the Apollo 12 Command Module.
The selected flight patches shown below resulted from local art and design competitions meant to capture the spirit of SSEP in each Mission 6 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.
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 12 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 16 of 18 Mission 6 to ISS communities conducting Mission Patch art and design competitions, 9,740 grade K-12 students were engaged, and 8,089 patch designs were submitted. Judges within the communities selected the 29 patches shown below.
You can also read more about the Mission 6 to ISS Patch Competition at the main SSEP website.
1. Kamloops/Thompson, British Columbia, Canada
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School District No. 73 (Kamloops/Thompson) had a total of 910 students participate in the Mission Patch Design competition. The competition was open to students K-12, although all entries were received from K-7 students. 254 patches were created by students in total, with schools each choosing their top 2 to submit to the district committee for finalist consideration. From the 22 finalist patches received by the committee, two were chosen for launch. The winning patch from Lloyd George Elementary School was created by grade 7 students Olympia Marra and Irene Kuo. The winning patch from Pacific Way Elementary was created by grade 6 student Raisi Dewan. Congratulations to these students for their beautiful artwork and for their ability to capture graphically the vision of human cooperation and scientific exploration.
2. Oakland, California
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During Urban Promise Academy’s Mission Patch Contest, 300 students submitted a mission patch to reflect our vibrant community, the spaceflight experiments they designed, and the future of space research. In each grade level 6-8 students voted for the best from their class, resulting in 12 finalists. Finally, the entire school voted to determine the winner whose mission patch will travel to the International Space Station: Carlos Ponce.
3. San Marino, California
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1,200 grade 9-12 students from San Marino High School were invited to participate in the design competition. 320 students submitted mission patch designs. The top 24 patches were chosen by a selection committee and the winning patch was determined by community voting. Kirsten Lau, 9th grader, submitted the winning patch.
4. Plaquemine, Louisiana
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The Iberville Mathematics, Science, and Arts Academy-West Aerospace Science, Robotics, Technology, and Engineering Program (MSA-West ARTE Program) participated in the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program’s (SEEP) Mission 6 to the International Space Station (ISS): Mission Patch Art and Design Competition in the spring of 2014. Through this competition, 608 students in kindergarten through twelfth grade participated in the Mission Patch design challenge in conjunction with their daily art classes. Of the 608 students, 217 officially submitted designs. Students were encouraged to design a patch that represented our school, MSA-West, and our community, Plaquemine, Louisiana. A panel of educational leaders selected two mission patches (from the hundreds of submitted designs) to represent MSA-West.
5. Kalamazoo, Michigan
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Our Diocesan schools used a two-patch design plan. The first involved 419 students in Kindergarten through grade 4. The second consisted of 373 students in grades 5-8. Students within each grade-specified group competed for one winning entry, and the resulting two entries (out of a total field of 792) were unveiled and announced at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum on Monday, May 28, 2014. These students worked with their art teachers using 3.5 by 3.5 paper in a variety of mediums, including crayon, colored pencil, paint and pastel to achieve their end-product. Winners of the design contest were Hannah Oo, a 6th grade student from St. Joseph Middle School in Battle Creek, Michigan; and Brigid Roth, a 4th grade student from St. Augustine Cathedral School in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
6. Madison Heights, Michigan
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Madison District Public Schools held an art and design mission patch competition to represent the entire Madison District community in Mission 6 of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program. A total of 300 students at Wilkinson Middle School participated in the mission patch competition. 110 mission patches from students in grades 6-8 were submitted by deadline, complete and meeting all criteria. The teachers and staff of M.D.P.S had the opportunity to select the winning patch based on the following criteria: patch representing the school, the community, SSEP, and demonstrating creativity of design. The winner is 7th grade student Tanner Barndollar who described the details as, “An idea to incorporate the “6” from “Mission 6” along with the “W” for Wilkinson Middle School into one symbol that housed space exploration, SSEP, and finally, the school and community all into one pin-like symbol.” We congratulate our top Mission 6 Flight patch winner!
7. Kansas City, Missouri
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Student Spaceflight Experiments Program Kansas City was open to four charter schools, three parochial schools, four public schools, one home school group and one community organization located in Kansas City, Missouri. Over 1,500 students in grades 2-8 were offered the opportunity to participate in the SSEP KC M6 Mission Patch Design Contest and over 850 patches were submitted by 750 students. 50 patches were selected as the local finalists and the winning patch was selected at the aSTEAM Village Community STEAM Day Celebration in May 2014.
Jose Reyes, an 8th grade student at Della Lamb, and Isabel Flores, a 7th grade student at St. Peter’s, mission patches were chosen to be flown on Mission 6. We are so proud of all of the effort and attention to detail that all of the students put into the SSEP Mission Patch Design Contest.
8. Berkeley Heights, New Jersey
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Berkeley Heights Public Schools held a hierarchical mission patch competition resulting in two patches selected to fly aboard the International Space Station as part of Mission 6 SSEP implementation. 1,010 students designed patches. Our Elementary Patch Competition including grades K-5 received 560 Mission Patch submissions, of which one finalist was selected from each of our four elementary schools. Our Secondary School Patch Competition including grades 6-12 received 450 patch submissions. Two finalists were chosen from each of our two secondary schools. The winners in each division were chosen by an online vote that was open to all our students, teachers, parents and community members.
9. Long Branch, New Jersey
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Long Branch School District engaged in two patch competitions as two patches will be able to fly with the our experiment to the International Space Station in the Fall of 2014. The first competition was held for students in grades 5-12. 2,619 students are currently enrolled in those grades and were given the opportunity to participate. 352 students participated with patch designs. The second competition was held for students in grades K-4. 2,070 students were given the opportunity to participate. 605 students participated with patch designs. This patch competition enabled the entire district to be part of Mission 6 to the International Space Station.
10. Ocean City, New Jersey
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The two winning patches from the Ocean City School District are from the two contests that were held within the Ocean City Community. Every student within the school district was given the opportunity to participate in the contest; students in the younger grades were more actively involved. Two hundred patches from grades kindergarten through 5th were received in the one contest. One hundred and fifty patches from grades 6-12 were received in the other contest. Students brainstormed with their teachers about what would represent Ocean City and should be included within their artwork. The student designs were amazing. Many patches included flip-flops, sandy beaches, or surfboards. The community came out to a coin drop to vote for their favorite design. The winning patches each raised over $50.00. These patches are a true representation of how Ocean City and space mesh.
11. Flushing, New York
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World Journalism Preparatory School engaged all 610 students in a two-mission patch design contest to celebrate our participation in SSEP.
300 students in middle school (grades 6-8) advisory classes submitted 165 designs. Representatives from each advisory voted on the designs and narrowed the selection down to 15 top designs, which the entire middle school voted on. The winning design is by 7th grade student Kerlin Pyun who represents WJPS as blasting off into space!
310 high school students (grades 9-12) worked in teams by publication class (newspaper, magazine, broadcast, and yearbook), which resulted in the submission of 85 designs. Student officers of the Art Club, Fashion Club, and Student Government narrowed the submissions down to the top 10 designs. The WJPS administrative cabinet chose a design executed by senior, Willfree Kim, which depicts a WJPS student standing proudly in front of a model of the ISS!
12. Colleton County, South Carolina
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For community-wide engagement in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, Colleton County School District extended our Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) focus to include Art through the SSEP Mission Patch Competition. In the elementary grades 4-5 competition, 256 students from Bells Elementary School, Cottageville Elementary School, Forest Hills Elementary School, Hendersonville Elementary School, and Northside Elementary School competed. The winner was Cameron Jones, a fifth grader at Bells Elementary School. At Colleton County Middle School, 542 sixth graders competed. Nick Armentrout and Will Dandridge were co-designers of the winning middle level mission patch. With pride in being the second school in our state to participate, both patches feature state symbols: the Palmetto Tree and crescent moon. Our mascot is the cougar and the middle level patch includes the motto “Cougar Pride.” We are excited that these mission patches will accompany our community’s experiment into low space orbit in winter 2014.
13. North Charleston, South Carolina
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Palmetto Scholars Academy selected two mission patches this year. One patch came from the art classes, and the other patch came from the House System. 330 students in grades 6-12 participated in the contest. Art students under the direction of Ms. Nancy Hackard designed the art patches. 178 patches were received, and a Fine Arts Board comprised of local artists selected the top 3 patches. Students and faculty then voted on the 3 patches, and the winning patch was chosen.
PSA has a house system, and students are assigned to a house that has a theme, coat of arms, and school community contribution. All students who did not take art as an elective created a mission patch, representing their house. 152 house patches were received, and a Fine Arts Board selected the top 3 house patches. Students and faculty voted on the 3 patches, and the winning patch was chosen.
14. Somerville, Tennessee
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Fayette Academy invited all students in PK through the 12th grade to participate in Mission 6 patch design. Two patches were chosen to fly as part of SSEP Mission 6 to the ISS. One patch was chosen to fly from a total of 72 patch designs received in PK through the fourth grade. A second patch was chosen to fly from a total of 109 patch designs received in grades 5-12. The overall competition resulted in 181 students actively engaged in mission patch design and creation.
15. Rockwall County, Texas
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In Rockwall County, Texas, we invited 14,723 students to participate in our community Mission Patch Design Competition. Rockwall Independent School District students from 14 campuses participated in the competition to design two patches, one from grades K-6 and one from grades K-12. A total of 809 students participated in the design competition: 590 elementary students and 219 secondary students. The Mission Patch Competition required students to design a mission patch for the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program that would clearly represent the Rockwall County community and the spirit of the space program. The winning mission patches will be flown on Mission 6 to the International Space Station in the fall of 2014.
16. San Antonio, Texas – Northside ISD
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Almost 3,600 students in Northside ISD were given the opportunity to participate in the Mission Patch Design Contest. Two separate competitions were held; one for elementary (K-5) students and one for secondary (6-12) students with a total of 562 patches submitted, representing 562 participants. Art specialists at 10 elementary schools offered the opportunity to their students. Art specialists also offered it at 5 middle schools and 2 high schools giving Northside students the chance to have their artwork truly be “out of this world.”
A judging panel consisting of the leaders of NISD selected the two patches that they felt best represented the spirit of Northside and its participation in this real-life science program. The elementary design that was chosen was designed by Shelby Crowley from Kuentz Elementary. The secondary design that was chosen was designed by Isabella Perdomo who attends Clark High School.