posted October 12, 2003 07:42 PM               

To commemorate that first launch on April 12, 1981, Bonenfant bought a mission patch from the commissary at Kennedy Space Center where he worked: a 3-inch embroidered piece of cloth featuring a rocket blasting into space and circling the moon.

He liked it so much he bought another patch before the next launch, and another.

Now he has 100 mission patches, and has found a unique way to display them; he's had them turned into a patchwork quilt.