The official NASA Mission Patch for Apollo 13. The SSEP Mission 7 to ISS Odyssey payload of experiments is named in honor of the Apollo 13 Command Module Odyssey.
The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education, are proud to present the 39 Mission Patches selected for flight to the International Space Station (ISS) for Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) Mission 7 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 7 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 24 selected Mission 7 microgravity flight experiments from student teams, representing the 24 communities participating in Mission 7, comprise the SSEP Odyssey experiments payload, named after the Apollo 13 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 13 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 21 of 24 Mission 7 to ISS communities conducting Mission Patch art and design competitions, 11,600 grade K-12 students were engaged, and 10,792 patch designs were submitted. Judges within the communities selected the 39 patches shown below.
You can also read more about the Mission 7 to ISS Patch Competition at the main SSEP website.
1. La Verne, California
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Damien High School conducted two Mission Patch competitions for grades 9-12 and grades 7-8 (from Holy Name of Mary and Loving Savior of the Hills). Upon completion, 266 high school student entries and 165 middle school entries were considered and 2 design winners were chosen. The winning middle school design was by Rochus Sison, 8th grade from Holy Name of Mary and the winning design high school design was by Ray Sun, 11th grade.
The high school design uses symbols to represent the different characteristics of Damien and SSEP. The 3 curves of the thrust and the triangular shape reflect the threefold emphasis of education at Damien– “Service, Scholarship, Faith”– in addition to the Holy Trinity. The words Inquirite and reperite are the Latin imperative forms of “search for” and “find out; discover.” They echo the inquisitive spirit that SSEP promotes and underscores the human imperative to go forth and discover more about oneself and the world.
2. Petaluma, California
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Petaluma High School held 2 mission patch design competitions, one for the students at Petaluma High, and one for K-8 students in our district. For the HS design competition 393 students from several 9th through 12th grade science, social science, and art classes engaged in mission patch designs. A total of 150 Patches were collected from the high school and 100 from 3rd & 5th grade students.
There were separate evaluation committees set up for the HS and K-8 patch competitions. In both teachers served as a committee to screen the submitted patches. The selection was narrowed down to 29 finalists from the grade school and 24 finalists from the high school. The patches were displayed in the school library and voted on by the Petaluma High School community. One winning patch has been selected from each competition.
3. Santa Monica, California
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The Santa Monica Malibu USD invited over 1300 students from Lincoln Middle School and nearby elementary schools to participate in a Patch Design Contest. The elementary competition produced 89 entries from 200 students in grades K-2 and 4-5. The middle school (grades 6-8) contest resulted in 330 student entries. The winning patches were selected by the site’s STEM team and art teacher.
The elementary winner, Tatum Meyer (Grant Elementary School), describes her patch, “. . I drew people around the Space Shuttle to show teamwork . . .”. The middle school winner, Alisa Boardman, describes her patch as “. . . the SSEP 7 mission soars toward the ISS where astronauts will conduct the microgravity experiments. The blue background of space, over a green planet, suggests the importance of taking our ideas and thinking beyond our everyday experiences. Through collaboration, innovation, and hard work we can reach new heights together and build a better future.”
4. Littleton, Colorado
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All of the 400 students in grades K-6 at Mt. Carbon Elementary School and all the 7th -8th grade students enrolled in visual arts classes at Summit Ridge Middle School participated in the SSEP Mission 7: Mission Patch Design Competitions. From Mt. Carbon Elementary School, we had 348 badge submissions. From Summit Ridge Middle School, we had 150 badge submissions designed through computer graphic class or traditional art classes.
SSEP teachers narrowed the patch designs to six designs per school. These were displayed to the Dakota Ridge Area Step 1 Dignitary Panel for review and selection of the top two designs. The two patch designs represent the Dakota Ridge Articulation Area. One patch was selected from the elementary school and one patch was selected from the middle school. We will produce cloth patches of designs to present to area SSEP students/staff.
5. Hartford, Connecticut
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The Annie Fisher STEM Magnet School Mission Patch competition was open to students in grades K-8. At the conclusion of the competition, 368 students were engaged resulting in 368 patches being submitted for judging.
The winning artist’s description of the patch:
Diabetes is a serious disease that affects millions of people’s lives across the world; therefore I added a heart to show the importance of our mission. The 1 and 2 show the two different types of diabetes. The blood cells and sugar are what diabetes affects the most. The way dirt is floating around represents the microgravity environment. The yellow rays and silver dots are the reproduction of synthetic insulin on its maiden voyage to the International Space Station. Finally, the STEM shows how Annie Fisher STEM Magnet School will be soaring to new heights and helping to find a cure to a worldwide crisis – diabetes.
6. Bear, Delaware
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At Caravel Academy, there were 150 students in grades 1 through 4, and 300 students in grades 5 through 12 that each created their own designs for the mission patch art and design contest. Teachers and staff members met to choose the top designs for each grade level. The top grade-level designs then were sent out via Google Forms where parents, faculty and community members could vote for the one patch that best embodied our school spirit and the upcoming Mission 7 to the International Space Station. The winning middle school patch shows a rocket being launched over our school with the slogan “Discover Your Potential.” The winning lower school patch depicts our mascot, Buccaneer Bob dressed as an astronaut.
7. Camden, Delaware
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Camden, DE conducted two Mission patch competitions. The High School Patch was derived from a student competition, which encompassed mostly our art students with others from the general population of our school, which ranges from 9th grade to 12th grade. 103 students were involved in the development and submission of patches. A three person panel was tasked with the final choice of the patch which we felt best exemplified “Rider Pride” and the goals of the SSEP program.
The Elementary/Middle School Patch was derived from a student competition that took place in our Elementary/Middle Schools. The competition reached out to our 6 elementary schools and 3 Middle Schools, which range from 1st to 8th grade, and was led by the Art teachers in those buildings. When the competition was complete, 100 students had participated with submissions and again we chose the patch which best-exemplified CR Pride and the SSEP Mission.
8. Hillsborough County, Florida
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Hillsborough County Public Schools opened the SSEP Mission 7 to ISS: Mission Patch Art & Design Competition to 12,000 elementary school students in our community, which represented 21 schools. We divided the competition into two groups, Kindergarten through Second Grade students and Third through Fifth Grade students.
We collected 3,703 entries (Kindergarten through 2nd = 1,031 entries & 3rd through 5th = 2,672 entries) and voting was held by leaders of the community. The Kindergarten through Second Grade Mission Patch winner is a First Grade student from Gibsonton Elementary School in Gibsonton, Florida. Her name is Alyssa Ren’e Thornton. The winning patch from the Third Grade through Fifth Grade competition was Nicole Nguyen, a 5th grade student also from Gibsonton Elementary. The winning patches are quite creative and show a real interest in space education!
9. Sioux City, Iowa
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The Sioux City Community School District held elementary (K-5th grade) and secondary (6th – 12th grade) patch design competitions. There were 235 patches submitted by 525 students in the elementary competition and 22 patches submitted by 125 students in the secondary competition. The winning designs were from Jacob Kyle a 4th grade student, and Abby Ehmcke an 11th grade student. The winning patches and honorable mentions will be on display at our annual district art fair in May 2015.
10. Fitchburg, Massachusetts
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Monty Tech held two mission patch competitions. The first afforded all students in grades 9 – 12 the opportunity to participate. 101 patches designed by 99 students were voted on by students, teachers, administrators and staff. The winning patch was created by Erin Craig, a senior in our Graphic Communications trade.
The second patch competition was opened up to the elementary and middle schools in our surrounding communities. We received 113 patch designs from 113 students in grades 2 – 6. The winning secondary patch was designed by 5th grader, Drake Nelson from John R. Briggs Elementary School. This was a wonderful opportunity to engage students and create a connection between science and art.
11. Brookhaven, Mississippi
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Brookhaven Academy students in grades 1-6 and 7-12 competed in two Mission Patch Art and Design Competitions. Through the direction of art teachers Emily Phillips and Dylia Greer the contest was a huge success, with over 300 mission patches received. The elementary competition had 250 individual students submit entries and the junior high/high school competition had 100 individual students submit entries. Brookhaven Academy faculty and students voted on the winning design. Kadynce Stewart, a 5th grader, won the elementary competition with her design featuring a space shuttle and Mississippi flag. The winning design from the 7-12 grade competition came from Grant James, a 10th grader. His design features our school mascot, the cougar.
12. Kansas City, Missouri
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aSTEAM Village conducted two Mission 7 Patch competitions, for grades 1-3 and 4-8. In the grades 1-3 competition, 125 students participated each submitting one design. In the grades 4-8 competition, 226 students participated each submitting one design. A vote was conducted during our 7th Community STEM Day Celebration. The winners were Leeshaud Woodson, 2nd grader from Benjamin Banneker Charter Academy and Jude Anderson, 5th grader from Crossroads Academy.
Jude commented, “The reason I made this patch was because I felt inspired to do a patch with an astronaut. I thought this was relevant because SSEP was all about sending experiments up into space for astronauts to do.“
Leeshaud commented, “My patch design was really to show rockets, the ISS and space which is why the colors in my patch are red, black and gray. I am not the best artist in my school, but being selected really does show that if you try there is always the chance that you will succeed.”
13. Johnson County, Nebraska
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Johnson County Central conducted a contest to choose two mission patches to send with our Mission 7 project to the International Space Station. The competition was open to all students in grades K-12. Realizing the design abilities vary widely between elementary and high school students, we conducted one contest for elementary (K-5) and another for middle school and high school (6-12). All elementary students were asked to make patches and 147 out of 280 students submitted patches to their elementary teachers for final judging (53%). We had individual submissions from 63% of our middle and high school students (173 out of 273 student submissions).
The winner in our K-5 contest was Lane Othmer, grade 5, with “Fly High with Science”. The winner of the middle school & high school contest was eighth-grader Steven Plager with “The sky was the limit”.
14. Somerset, New Jersey
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Thomas Edison Energy Smart K- 6 students participated in the Mission Patch competition for SSEP Mission 7. The competition was categorized into K-3 and 4-6 competitions. In K-3 Mission Patch competition, all 171 students from grades K-3 participated to design a patch and in 4-6 Mission Patch competition, all 126 students from grades 4-6 participated to design a patch for Mission 7. Mrs. Hatch, the art teacher, selected top 5 patches from each competition.
Later the administrators and the teachers were involved in picking the winning patch for each of the competitions. The two school wide patch winners will be announced during the school presentation ceremony and will be awarded for their accomplishments. These two patches were sent to SSEP. All together Thomas Edison school immersed 297 students from the K-6 in the selection of two Mission patches to fly in the MISSION 7 SSEP program.
15. West Fargo, North Dakota
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Each of 24 experiment design teams, made up of 3-4 students, designed a mission patch along with their microgravity experimental design. A total of 94 seventh-grade students from Liberty Middle School participated in the competition. All patches which met the SSEP minimum requirements (a total of 20) were displayed in our school.
All students and school faculty were encouraged to vote for their first, second, and third choices, and they were directed to vote according to the following criteria: patch design, creativity, and how well the patch represents our school and the community of West Fargo. The patch, which received the greatest number of votes, was selected to fly with SSEP Mission 7 to ISS.
16. Grant County, Oregon
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The Grant County, Oregon Mission 7 patches were chosen by a team of 6 jurors representing 4 towns. The jury was composed of teachers, artists, and Juniper Arts council members. It was a difficult decision due to the wonderful entries. The competition was announced last fall with an email to all the schools in the county. The email included attachments outlining the competition guidelines, contact information, and a Power Point for teachers to use with students. The competition was also announced through radio public service announcements and in the local paper.
Four elementary teachers chose to participate at Humbolt Elementary School and 76 students each submitted entries in the K-6 competition. Grant Union Jr/Sr High School art classes participated with 185 entries from 120 students in the 7-12 division. The Blue Mountain Eagle will soon publish a story of the competition and entries will be displayed at a local art exhibition.
17. Erie, Pennsylvania
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Students in the Iroquois School District community participated in a two-part patch design competition. The first competition involved 350 students in Kindergarten- 6th grade from Iroquois Elementary School, who worked with their art teacher to design 350 patches worthy of flight. The winning patch was created by 6th-grade student, Julianna Ferko. Additionally, a second competition at Iroquois Junior/Senior High School took place involving 218 students in grades 7-12. These students also worked with their art teacher to design and refine 200 patches. With 84 votes, 8th-grade student, Molly Ferko-Comer, created the winning patch.
Patches were selected by a committee made up of administrators and teachers, and voted on by students. The winning patches were selected based on their showing creativity, being completed, adhering to the rules, and representing Iroquois School District, the community, and our SSEP efforts. Our students reveled in being a part of such a great opportunity.
18. Austin, Texas
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As part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, all Eanes ISD students (Grades K-12) had the opportunity to participate in a Mission Patch Design Contest during the fall of 2014. This competition was open to all students in Eanes ISD. There was a mission patch competition for grades K-5, open to approximately 3,495 students, and a competition for grades 6-12, open to 4,464 students. 676 elementary students each submitted entries and 136 secondary students each submitted entries.
Two patch designs (one from each competition) were chosen to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) with the winning Eanes ISD flight experiment, Heterotrophic Algae Neochloris Oleoabundans, in June 2015. The two patches chosen to represent Eanes ISD are: Ian Harvey, Grade 12, Westlake High School and Sarah Wang, Grade 5, Bridge Point Elementary.
19. Burleson, Texas
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Being first time participants in Student Spaceflight Experiments program, Burleson ISD in Burleson, Texas decided to go full STEAM ahead. We are proud to announce our winner, Anastasia Smith, a 5th grader from Mound Elementary school. Her design with the slogan “If you can dream it, you can do it” was one we felt represented our school district and community well.
Our patch design competition included grades 5-12, and was implemented in either art classes or core academic classes. A total of 186 students participate with 186 patches being submitted, and our winning design was chosen based on its representation of our district’s first spaceflight. Burleson Independent School District is proud to be a part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, and we look forward to what the future has in store for our participants.
20. Pharr, Texas
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The community’s participation in the SSEP Mission 7 to the International Space Station provided a great opportunity for the school district to further pursue its commitment to excellence in STEM education. The involvement in the program created excitement across the community.
The local Cesar Chavez SSEP mission patch design competition was open to grade K-5 students. Our school received a total of 98 beautiful mission patches. Our community SSEP mission patch design competition was open to grade K-12 students across 40 different schools resulting in the community submitting 116 patches. We received a total of 214 patches from our two local competitions. Our community is anxiously awaiting the flight of our community artwork and experiment.
21. San Antonio, Texas – Northside ISD
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To complement the high school experiment on the ISS for Mission 7, 4,272 students in Northside ISD were given the opportunity to participate in the Mission Patch Design Contest. Two competitions were held. For elementary (K-5) competition, 481 students submitted patch designs. In the secondary (6-12) competition, 153 students submitted patch designs. Art specialists at 15 elementary schools offered the opportunity to students. Art specialists also offered it at 5 middle and 3 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 Gabriella Ambriz from Linton Elementary. The secondary design that was chosen was designed by Shayna L’Homme who attends Garcia Middle School.