The Challenger Space Center features an awe-inspiring exhibit of mission patches from the first United States manned flight, Freedom 7, which launched on May 5, 1961, through the Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS-107 that disintegrated 16 minutes prior to landing on February 1, 2003.

Each patch tells a unique and personal story of the crews and their flight. The first official United States mission patch was for Gemini 5, the famous “8 Days or Bust” patch. All patches prior to Gemini 5 were created due to heavy demand from collectors. This exhibit also includes several patches from missions that did not fly for various reasons.

One special patch that is in the exhibit is the NASA Memorial Patch. The patch honors the seventeen lost astronauts of Apollo 1, Challenger STS-51L and Columbia STS-107. This patch was created in honor of the spirit for which these seventeen astronauts lived and made the ultimate sacrifice for the human exploration of space.