NASA Patches Up Before Retiring

A contest was held by NASA to commerate the the retirement of the space shuttle. And so the winner was announced and described as the launching space shuttle flanked by an American flag and stars hailing both NASA’s orbiter fleet and the astronauts whose lives were lost while flying aboard them, has been chosen by the space agency as its official insignia to mark the approaching retirement of the winged spacecraft.

NASA revealed Monday the winning design in its in-house space shuttle commemorative patch contest, which began last October. The selected gem-shaped patch, which was designed by Hamilton Sundstrand camera engineer Blake Dumesnil from Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, was chosen by judges out of the 85 designs submitted by the agency’s past and present workforce.

In announcing Dumesnil as the first place winner, NASA also named the judges’ second and third choices.

Jennifer Franzo from the Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, placed second with her “Mission Complete” logo, depicting the shuttle in orbit “tipping its wing to the world, as a way to say ‘thank you’ and ‘farewell’ just as a cowboy would wave goodbye into the sunset.” Jennifer Franzo’s “Mission Complete” design placed second among the judges’ picks for a commemorative patch. (NASA)

Third place went to Tim Gagnon, a former subcontractor employee at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, whose patch designs have been worn by the astronaut crews on shuttle and International Space Station flights. His contest entry focused on the “orbiter coming home for a safe landing at the conclusion of its final mission.”

In addition to being the judge’s first pick, Dumesnil’s patch also topped a “People’s Choice” poll that was held among NASA employees in January. Out of the 7,606 total votes, Dumesnil’s design received 2,182, or 29 percent of the ballots.

As his prize, Dumesnil will be presented with his winning art that will be uplinked to the International Space Station and returned to Earth with Endeavour’s STS-130 crew. His design will also appear on NASA documents and be used on souvenirs to be sold through NASA’s employee stores.

Blake Dumesnil’s winning design will become NASA’s official space shuttle commemorative emblem. The central element of his design, the space shuttle itself, is bounded by panels depicting the American flag and two sets of stars: 14 in memory of the astronauts lost aboard Challenger and Columbia, and five symbolizing the shuttle fleet including Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour.

The words “30 Years” emblazoned at the insignia’s center reference the anniversary of the shuttle’s first spaceflight, STS-1, in April 2011.

Together, they first chose 15 from the 85 design entries to participate in the employees’ People’s Choice poll. Though they could have chosen differently, they agreed with the workers’ favorite and named Dumesnil the winner.

Tim Gagnon’s third place design will fly with the other 84 contest entries on a CD aboard shuttle Atlantis. (NASA) Shannon will recognize Dumesnil together with Franzo and Gagnon at the STS-130 crew’s post-flight debrief in March to be held at Space Center Houston, the visitor center for the Johnson Space Center.