Brandon Marsh, a Graphic Design senior at Arcadia, was named a top-20 runner-up in a worldwide contest to design the patch for the new Suborbital Scientist Astronaut Training program at The National AeroSpace Training and Research (NASTAR) Center. NASTAR held a contest—open to students from around the world—for the design of an official patch for the new suborbital program.

“What really drove me to enter the contest was my interest in space travel and research,” says Marsh. “My dad and I are huge NASA enthusiasts. On our computers, we always track the Space Shuttle and/or International Space Station orbiting over our area.

When possible, with the proper coordinates and sunlight, we can track the shuttle and/or the ISS outside with the naked eye. My family and I have visited the Kennedy Space Center numerous times in Florida, as well as seen a few shuttle launches. I also have a patch collection of over 200 patches from all the past NASA space programs.

“My patch design was inspired by the bold colors and worldly representation seen in most NASA patch designs. Most of the patches have a very simple design but have a lot of detail. I used the worldly representation in my design but kept the detail simple. I used the white spacecraft shape, found on the NASTAR logo, as a representation for the scientists in the program. Since the facility is for sub-orbital flight training, the scientists will not be orbiting the entire Earth during their actual flights. This is why the white spacecraft has a low orbit in my design.”

NASTAR is a non-government, world-class aerospace training facility that houses state-of-the-art simulation equipment, training courseware, and professional services for the aerospace industry. Read more Living the Promise stories.