NASA and Marvel Comics have teamed up to create the latest mission patch representing the payloads launching this year to the U.S. National Laboratory on the International Space Station.
According to Space.com, “Guardians of the Galaxy” characters Rocket Raccoon and Groot are featured on the mission patch, the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) announced Friday at the San Diego Comic-Con.
CASIS manages the U.S. National Lab under a contract with NASA, noted Space.com.
“A major mission for us here at CASIS is to find unique and innovative ways to bring notoriety to the ISS National Laboratory and the research that is being conducted on our orbiting laboratory,” the center’s director of operations and educational opportunities Ken Shields, said in a statement.
“There are very few brands in the world who have as large an impact as Marvel, and we are thrilled to partner with them on this project and look forward to Rocket and Groot inspiring a new generation of researchers interested in the space station,” Shields stated.
Rachel Feltman of The Washington Post’s science blog wrote that NASA has been working more and more with the entertainment industry in an effort to increase the profile for its various projects.
“When ‘The Martian’ — a movie about an astronaut getting stuck on Mars — came out in 2015, NASA’s social media team worked relentlessly to tie its #JourneytoMars campaign to the successful film’s marketing,” Feltman wrote for the Post.
“… The agency has also done recent campaigns with Lego and made a valiant effort to jump on the ‘Star Wars’ sequel bandwagon. It also drilled two stars of the newest ‘Star Trek’ movie on space trivia, because you really don’t need to pick one or the other,” Feltman continued.
“Guardians of the Galaxy 2,” starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket Raccoon, and Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot, is expected to hit theaters May 7 of next year. The original “Guardians of the Galaxy,” released in 2014, made $333.1 million domestically and another $440.1 million overseas in theaters, according to Box Office Mojo.
“We’re really excited to take this on because we really like the whole idea of doing something for the space station,” said Darren Sanchez, a Marvel Custom Solutions project manager and editor, according to Space.com. “The patch is a really cool idea and to utilize a Marvel character for the space station for CASIS, that’s a very cool project.”
[Source:- NEWS MAX]
