The People / The Artwork

Back row: Stephen D. Thorne, Michael Allen Baker, Richard James Hieb, Brian Duffy and Stephen Scott Oswald.
Middle row: Carl Joseph Meade, Tamara Elizabeth Jernigan, Linda Maxine Godwin, Jerome "Jay" Apt III.
Front row: Charles Donald Gemar, Pierre Joseph Thuot, Robert Donald Cabana and Terrence T. "Tom" Henricks.

The patch for the Astronaut Class of 1985 features a 1776 colonial flag, with its thirteen stars and thirteen stripes an appropriate symbol for 13 new astronaut-pioneers. Along the Space Shuttle on the patch are eleven stars. They symbolize that this was the 11th NASA astronaut group.

Twelve of the thirteen Astronaut Candidates completed their training in July 1986. One of them, Stephen D. Thorne, did not live to see that day, which is the reason why his name is embroidered against a black background. Thorne died when the Pitts A2 plane he was a passenger in, crashed near Alta Loma, Texas, on May 24, 1986.

The patch design was printed on the official class portrait, which was released in October 1985. Since Thorne was still alive at that time, the original artwork did not yet feature the black field behind his name. The photograph was published on page 16 of the September 1986 issue of Countdown Magazine.

Spot the patch !!!

The 1985 Astronaut Class patch is rarely seen in public, but Linda Godwin is wearing it on her suit in this official NASA-portrait.

No Fun

We do not know if there is a funny nickname for the 1985 astronaut class. No funny patch has even been spotted.

Source / Availability

The original patch was made by AB Emblem. It is a very rare patch, however it was for sale at one time from an organization called "The Space Patch Collector's Club" of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. But they went out of business in 1994. After that we have only seen it on the market twice: it was offered on eBay two times in 1999. No souvenir versions are known to exist.

A Personal Story

Astronaut Linda Godwin telling about astronaut training:

Hello Mrs.Godwin, I would like to know what do you think was it that made you stand out from the rest of the candidates at the beginning of your career? I mean, even after some were disqualified for medical reasons, there were still a lot of candidates. Why were you chosen, in your opinion?

It's difficult to know why some people get chosen and others don't. I have been on 4 astronaut selection boards, and it is always a difficult choice. We are always looking for applications with a broad background and ops experience. I think that having a pilot's license helped me, and also that I worked first at the Johnson Space Center on shuttle missions in Mission Control.

Having been on 4 Astronaut Selection Boards what would be your advice for young people that would one day like to be astronauts? I ask this because many of us here probably wish to become astronauts. So, what increases our chances?

Get a good education in a field which you will enjoy, regardless of whether you become an astronaut or not. To be eligible today, the degree has to be in some field of science, engineering or medicine. An advanced degree is extremely helpful. Try to have a diversified background - something which shows operational experience or an interest in other challenging areas like flying.

Could you tell me what exactly does an astronaut do? I mean,most think that it's all about flying,but you spend most of your career doing something else and get to fly 2-3 times in a lifetime. So what do yoy do on the ground?

Well, it doesn't sound very exciting, but I go to a lot of meetings, and there is a lot of paperwork! Between mission assignments, all astronauts are assigned technical duties in support of shuttle or the space station. At the same time, we do some amount of training to stay proficient.

What was the hardest part of training?

The training is all interesting. Physically, the training in the water tank for space walks is a little more demanding than some of the other training. We spend a lot of time in shuttle simulators and in classroom sessions.

Hi Linda. Several of my students want to know what requirements does NASA stress the most when choosing its astronaut candidates?

There no "average" astronaut, of course, but we definitely look for people who can get along well with others, are very capable and efficient, have done well in their field, who have done things other than just within research or their career, but interact with others in sports, aviation, or community activities.