STS-51L Mission Patch

STS-51L Mission Patch

This mission patch was designed by engineer Ernie Reyes at the behest of mission commander Francis Scobee, for the Space Shuttle flight STS-51L.

STS-51L was the tenth flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger, but it ended in disaster after it broke up shortly after launch killing all seven crewmembers. Francis Scobee, Michael Smith, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Reznik, Ronald McNair, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe all lost their lives due to a failure of an O-ring seal on one of the launch vehicles' Solid Rocket Boosters.

The patch design features the Shuttle launching from Florida and orbiting Earth. In the background an American flag with seven stars denotes the seven astronauts aboard. Streaking across the flag is Halley's Comet, the study of which was to be an objective for the crew during the mission. An apple features after Christa McAuliffe's name in honour of her being a teacher, who had been selected as the first participant in the Teacher in Space Project.

This particular patch was part of a collection of patches acquired by British-born professor of endocrine and metabolic surgery Anthony Goode, during his years working with NASA’s Life Sciences Division.