Let's face it, patches aren't just for Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. Grown-ups like patches, too. It's not uncommon for small groups and organizations to create custom patches. It's also, oddly, not uncommon for licensed characters to appear on these patches. I have some such patches from Boy Scouts and fire houses that feature Turtles, but this one for NASA is my favorite. It's also the only such patch I've seen that's used art from an official TMNT artist. Anything based on A.C. Farley's work is über-appealing to me!
UPDATE: Here's the official NASA page that explains the patch design:
http://mplm.msfc.nasa.gov
The modules are named for significant engineers in Italian history, Rafaello, Leonardo and Donatello. This is the logo for the 3 Italian named modules developed by MPLM team members. The logo, copyrighted by Mirage Studios, depicts a ninja turtle in an astronaut flight suit.
A.C. Farley has also posted the artwork on his Facebook page, and had this to add:
They got in touch with Mirage and asked if we would do the patch. I got to do it because I am in love with the space program. They made enameled metal pins, embroidered patches and jackets and other stuff I never even seen.