The mission commander for the flight is Chris Ferguson, a graduate of Archbishop Ryan High School and Drexel University.
On his flight, Ferguson will be carrying two ties to our city, mission patches designed by two Drexel students.
"He's maintained his connection with Drexel and specifically asked the graphic design program at the Westphal College to work on this project and we are incredibly honored. It's a great opportunity," said Don Haring, Associate Professor at Drexel University.
Five students from the Westphal College of Media Arts and Design worked on the mission patch project for two weeks.
But the two patches Ferguson liked best were Jen Choy's "Spaceswan" and Jeremy "Bloom's Waves."
"There's an abstracted drawing of a space shuttle. I was inspired by motion of a space shuttle launching off and an astronaut in space, floating in zero gravity," said Choy of her inspiration.
"It's basically an abstraction of watching YouTube videos of flights taking off. The way that the air collapses behind planes was my inspiration," said Jeremy Bloom of his inspiration.
Even after Atlantis comes back down to Earth, the patches will stay at the International Space Station indefinitely.
