Artwork by an Apollo Beach student is circling the planet hundreds of miles overhead.

Eeshan Kallu, who finished third grade at Dorothy C. York Innovation Academy earlier this year, won a districtwide competition to design a mission patch for the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP). His 3.5-inch paper emblem launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday, Oct. 13, and is scheduled to dock at the International Space Station on Thursday, Oct. 15, The Southshore Circle reported.

The Falcon 9 lifted off at 6:33 a.m. from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The Dragon spacecraft carried more than 6,300 pounds of scientific equipment, experiments and supplies, according to NASA. The rocket's exhaust plumes were visible across the eastern United States.

Eeshan's winning design features an astronaut, a rocket, the moon and stars. The floating astronaut and rocket represent microgravity, according to The Southshore Circle. The mission was originally scheduled for August but was delayed to October, according to the SSEP Mission 21 page.

NASA flight engineer Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk of the Canadian Space Agency are set to monitor the Dragon during its automated approach and docking on Thursday, according to a NASA blog post. Live coverage on NASA+ is scheduled to begin at 9:15 a.m. EDT, with docking expected at 11 a.m.

SSEP Mission 21 includes 20 participating communities nationwide. York Innovation Academy was among 16 Hillsborough County schools involved in the mission patch competition, with the University of South Florida handling experiment design. The payload, designated SSEP23 and named Discovery after NASA's space shuttle orbiter, carries 20 student flight experiments.

Fox 13 reported on Eeshan's win in May, describing him as a student who blended his passions for science and art.

The patch is expected to spend four to six weeks in orbit before splashing down off the Florida coast. When it returns, Eeshan is expected to receive his artwork along with an official certificate documenting its journey into space.