Artist-supplied caption:
I wanted to commemorate the entire history of the Shuttle program and all it has taught us, rather than specific mission objectives such as the International Space Station or Hubble. The large gold stars represent the five Shuttles that have flown: Discovery, Atlantis, Endeavour, Columbia and Challenger. The two gold stars with long points symbolize both the Challenger and Columbia, with the fourteen smaller white stars commemorating those who have sacrificed their lives. The Shuttle is shown launching from Kennedy Space Center on a map of the United States. The map of the United States and its surrounding waters are colored as an American flag, with fifty white dots to represent each star on the American flag. A ring has been placed around the Shuttle plume to represent the gold Astronaut symbol. The plume is also rainbow-colored to signify the diversity of astronauts that flew during the Shuttle Program. Finally, the sun is shown to be setting, symbolizing the end of the Shuttle program.
This is not the final artwork but a draft of the design I have in mind. Some of the pieces need to be moved or resized but this is the general layout. Thank you for your consideration.
