SpaceX's Next Space Station Resupply Flight Gets Mission Patches

The second of NASA's contracted cargo flights to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) is set to launch later this week, and like most spaceflights, it has its own mission patch.

In fact, it has two.

The dual designs underscore the commercial nature of the unmanned mission, which uses a rocket and a spacecraft built and operated by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, under a contract with NASA. SpaceX is headed by Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal and Tesla Motors.

Both the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company and NASA have designed their own emblems to represent the flight, which is scheduled to launch on Friday (March 1) at 10:10 a.m. EST (1510 GMT) from Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. [HowSpaceX's Capsule Works (Infographic)]

The mission will deliver 1,268 pounds (575 kilograms) of crew supplies and science equipment to the space station packed aboard SpaceX's third Dragon capsule to visit the orbiting laboratory. The gumdrop-shaped freighter will ride to orbit atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Almost a month later, on March 25, the Dragon will return to a parachute-assisted ocean splashdown, repacked with 2,668 pounds of science experiment results and no-longer-needed hardware.

The mission will be the second to launch under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program, which in 2008 awarded a $1.6 billion contract to SpaceX to fly 12 Dragon cargo capsules to and from the station. The Virginia-based firm Orbital Sciences was also contracted by the space agency for cargo delivery flights using its Cygnus craft.

In addition to the Dragon mission's two patches, the flight also goes by two names: Commercial Resupply Services-2 (CRS-2) and SpaceX 2 (SpX-2).

Two for one

NASA's patch for SpX-2 the mission designation that appears on the agency's emblem centers on SpaceX's Dragon as it nears a rendezvous with the space station from below. On the insignia, the sun shines brightly in the distance as it rises over Earth's horizon.

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SpaceX's Next Space Station Resupply Flight Gets Mission Patches