This Thursday, April 22nd, Dragon Crew Two will launch to the International Space Station wearing my mission patch design.

I worked with the astronauts to build an image that reflected their mission. I did a couple of dozen designs and then showed them what I was thinking. From there I worked specifically with astronaut, Aki Hoshide, to refine and adjust the elements.

It was important to know how the capsule works in order to depict it in the right configuration. For example, I couldn’t have flames coming out of the dragon engine ports as those only fire in emergency, to pull the crew capsule away from any danger happening with the rocket. All-in-all, a patch should be a positive expression of a successful flight!

Next step was working out the color. We went through lots of iterations to finally come to a consensus amongst the crew members.

There are so many ways to go, especially with regard to color. But I had to limit my enthusiasm to just eight colors. It seems like a lot of colors at first, but getting a range of depth within those eight is rather tough. You have to let go of some colors in favor of simplifying the range. It also had to work against the bright blue background of their flight suits. Here’s a sequence of trials and changes.

I also had to adjust the patch to work as a simple insignia for their polo shirts. At the end, everyone approved and was happy, myself included. 

Coming this Autumn: Crew Three will launch, and I just completed their mission patch. After that, I’ll be working on the ISS Expedition Patch for my friend, astronaut Kjell Lindgren, the guy that got me working on all these patches!