The Herbert College of Agriculture at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville has been accepted into the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) Mission 20 to the International Space Station and is seeking student artists to submit their designs to both our Middle/High School Mission Patch Design Competition and our Undergraduate Mission Patch Design Competition!
The Mission Patch Design Competition is a community engagement component of our PLSC 493 Space Research class. In this course, Herbert College of Agriculture undergraduates created microgravity experiments. One experiment has been selected from this class and will fly on the International Space Station this spring. To expand the STEM initiatives from this class to the greater community, we have launched a design competition open to students across the state of Tennessee in grades 6-12, as well as a mission patch competition for undergraduates at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Students are asked to create a mission patch, like the ones astronauts wear on their spacesuits. One mission patch from each competition will also be launched with the selected experiment on the International Space Station. Patches are due Friday, November 7th, 2025, at midnight.
If you are interested in participating in this competition or know a student who may be, please follow the instructions/rules listed below.
We look forward to receiving your submissions!
Note: If you previously submitted a patch this past spring, your patch will still be entered into the design contest for the fall. Only one entry is allowed per student. If you would like to submit a new patch, please submit via the instructions below and contact Victoria Cavaliere at vcavalie@utk.edu so your previous patch submission can be removed from the database. Thank you.
What are the requirements?
To participate in the Middle/High School Mission Patch Design Competition, students must be current residents of the state of Tennessee and in grades 6-12.
To participate in the Undergraduate Mission Patch Design Competition, students must be undergraduates currently enrolled at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
What must my mission patch have?
The following requirements must be met for a student’s design patch to be accepted into the competition:
- A Mission Patch must be a piece of paper NO LARGER than 3.5-inch x 3.5-inch, and its design should reflect pride in your community, and your participation in the SSEP.
- Mission Patches themselves can be any shape, but the paper it is submitted on must be a square that does not exceed 3.5-inches x 3.5-inches.
- A Mission Patch can be black & white or full color.
- All Mission Patches must be submitted through the appropriate Google Form (linked below).
- All Mission Patches must be submitted digitally as an image file, preferably a JPG file, (a photo of a hand-drawn mission patch can be submitted), labeled LastName_FirstName_County for the Middle/High School Mission Patch Design Competition. Example: Smith_Rose_Loudon. For the Undergraduate Mission Patch Design Competition, all Mission Patches must be submitted digitally as an image file, preferably a JPG file, (a photo of a hand-drawn mission patch can be submitted), labeled LastName_FirstName. Example: Smith_Rose. All file uploads must be less than 1 GB in size.
How do I submit my mission patch design?
To submit your mission patch for the Middle/High School Mission Patch Design Competition, please fill out the Google Form here: tiny.utk.edu/tennesseemissionpatchsubmit
To submit your mission patch for the Undergraduate Mission Patch Design Competition, please fill out the Google Form here: tiny.utk.edu/undergradmissionpatchsubmit
Note: You must submit the Google Form using your UTK email address for the Undergraduate Mission Patch Design Competition.
When is the contest deadline?
Mission patches must be received by midnight on November 7th, 2025.
When will the winners be announced?
Winners will be announced by November 21st, 2025.
Who can I contact if I have questions?
Contact Victoria Cavaliere at vcavalie@utk.edu with any questions about the Middle/High School Mission Patch Design Competition.
Contact Clint Wayman at cwayman1@tennessee.edu with any questions about the Undergraduate Mission Patch Design Competition.
About SSEP
The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program [or just “SSEP”] is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) in the U.S. and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally. It is enabled through a strategic partnership with Nanoracks, LLC, which is working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.