[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 32 (Wednesday, February 25, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E248]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


       HONORING WILKINSON MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT TANNER BARNDOLLAR

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                          HON. SANDER M. LEVIN

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 25, 2015

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise to 
recognize an eighth grade student from my district, Tanner Barndollar, 
for his work in designing a mission patch that was recently flown to 
the International Space Station. Tanner attends Wilkinson Middle School 
in Madison Heights, Michigan.
  Mission patches have been used on NASA flights since the early days 
of the U.S. space program. The tradition was for the astronauts to 
design a patch to symbolize their flight. To this day, I remember the 
mission patch for the Apollo 11 flight to the Moon. The patch for that 
mission was designed by the pilot of the command module, Michael 
Collins, and showed a bald eagle landing on the Moon carrying an olive 
branch in its talons. That patch became an iconic emblem of the first 
Moon landing.
  To this day, mission patches remain important symbols of all NASA 
flights. The patch designed by Tanner Barndollar accompanied a 
microgravity experiment designed by four other Wilkinson students. 
Unfortunately, the first attempt to get this experiment and the mission 
patch up to the international space station failed when the unmanned 
rocket carrying them exploded shortly after liftoff last October. 
Fortunately, NASA was able to find space on another rocket to the space 
station that launched in January, and the Wilkinson microgravity 
experiment and Tanner's mission patch were carried into orbit on that 
flight.
  Tanner's patch shows his obvious pride in his country, community and 
school, as well as his fellow students' participation in the Student 
Spaceflight Experiments Program. His design was selected from more than 
51,000 student designs from around the country.
  I ask all of my colleagues to join me in recognizing Tanner 
Barndollar and all the other young Americans who participated in the 
NASA Student Spaceflight Experiments Program.

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