Hi Stephen, What a great idea! The symbolism of the items featured on
the patch are described in this blog post:
http://www.sciencecheerleader.com/2013/10/project-merccuri-mission-patch-activity-...
I have started copying all of the information you have presented. What
an interesting project!! I collect Space Patches and hope to obtain
one of yours along the way now. But when I do, I like to...