Design a Mission Patch
Competition Description
The historic speech by President John F. Kennedy at Rice Stadium on September, 12, 1962 laid out a future for the country in which space exploration drove advances in technology, science, engineering, and education. In the subsequent 55 years, the United States, via NASA, has led the way in the exploration of the Universe putting the first humans on the Moon, landing rovers on Mars, sending spacecraft to Jupiter and Saturn, conducting fly-pasts of asteroids and comets, observing distant stars and galaxies, and discovering planets around other stars. Human exploration of space led to twelve people walking on the lunar surface, a futuristic space shuttle ferrying cargo up and down to low-earth orbit, a million-pound orbiting space station built in partnership with 14 other nations, spawned a thriving commercial space industry, and a vision to put humans on Mars in the 2030’s. Since the earliest days of NASA, the City of Houston has led the way in human exploration with energy, ingenuity, and perseverance, answering the call of President Kennedy’s invitation “to be bold”. Houston today is still home to the NASA Johnson Space Center and now the Houston Spaceport at Ellington Field.
For this Bold Frontiers competition, we would like you to celebrate the space exploration of the future by devising a Mission Patch that
- captures Houston’s leadership in space exploration,
- exemplifies the call to be bold
- emphasizes the future and the coming generations of Houston space explorers.
Each patch should be accompanied by a short (350 word) description of the inspiration behind the design.
Examples of real NASA Space Mission patches are shown below but be bold and creative with your own design.
Rules and Regulations
The competition is open to all schools in the Greater Houston region.
There are 3 categories of entry: Elementary School (Grades K-5), Middle School (Grades 6-8) and High School ( Grades 9-12).
The competition is limited to one entry per school.
Each school is encouraged to solicit entries from classes, clubs, and individuals across the school and to choose the winning design that best represents the criteria above for submission. Submissions should be made by a designated teacher or administrator on behalf of the school.
Submissions should be made by a designated teacher or administrator on behalf of the school.
Each school should submit their entry to the appropriate grade category.
Patches should be submitted electronically to space@rice.edu (preferably as a PDF file) or by mail to:
Rice Space Institute
Attn: Ms. Treasure Wilson
Rice University, MS-108
6100 Main St
Houston TX 77005
Deadline for applications is Friday, February 16, 2018
Submit your entry here 
Prizes
First Prize
First Prize winners in each category will receive
- tickets for 30 persons to visit Space Center Houston
- a framed cloth version of the winning patch for the school
- 100 cloth patches of the winning design
- special invitation to Bold Frontiers Space Exploration event at Rice University
- Display of winning patch and acknowledgment of school on Bold Frontiers and Rice Space Institute websites
Second Prize
Second Prize winners in each category will receive
- tickets for 10 persons to visit Space Center Houston
- a framed cloth version of the 2nd prize patch for the school
- 100 cloth patches with their design
- Display of winning patch and acknowledgment of school on Bold Frontiers and Rice Space Institute websites
Third Prize
Third Prize winners in each category will receive
- a framed cloth version of the 3rd prize patch for the school
- 100 cloth patches
- Display of winning patch and acknowledgment of school on Bold Frontiers and Rice Space Institute websites
Some real NASA patches for inspiration
