NASA's space shuttle program held a contest for its past and present employees to design a commemorative patch marking the orbiters' upcoming retirement. Eighty-five (85) submissions were created by workers ranging from shuttle technicians to flight controllers to astronauts.

Shuttle program managers, serving as judges, chose their 15 favorite designs to take part in a "People's Choice" poll among employees. The judges will consider the result of that vote when selecting the winning artwork, which will fly aboard one of the final space shuttle missions.

The employee-only People's Choice poll runs from Jan. 11 through Jan. 29 31. After hearing the desire for a public vote, collectSPACE organized this, our own Fans' Choice poll. Though unofficial, the Fans' Choice will be open for votes during the same dates as NASA's poll. Will the fans pick the same design as the employees?

View the "Top 15" space shuttle commemorative patches and read the artist-provided descriptions by clicking on the thumbnails above. Then vote for your favorite patch in the poll that appears in the right sidebar of this page.