{"id":44540,"date":"2024-12-29T17:46:15","date_gmt":"2024-12-29T09:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/after-60-years-of-spaceflight-patches-here-are-some-of-our-favorites\/"},"modified":"2024-12-29T17:46:15","modified_gmt":"2024-12-29T09:46:15","slug":"after-60-years-of-spaceflight-patches-here-are-some-of-our-favorites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/after-60-years-of-spaceflight-patches-here-are-some-of-our-favorites\/","title":{"rendered":"After 60 years of spaceflight patches, here are some of our favorites"},"content":{"rendered":"

The art of space mission patches is now more than six decades old, dating to the Vostok 6 mission in 1963 that carried Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova into low-Earth orbit for nearly three days. The patch for the first female human spaceflight showcased a dove flying above the letters designating the Soviet Union, CCCP.<\/p>\n

That patch was not publicly revealed at the time, and the use of specially designed patches was employed only infrequently by subsequent Soviet missions. NASA\u2019s first mission patch would not follow for two years, but the practice would prove more sticky for missions in the United States and become a time-honored tradition.<\/p>\n

The first NASA flight to produce a mission-specific patch worn by crew members was Gemini 5. It flew in August 1965, carrying astronauts Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad on an eight-day mission inside a small Gemini spacecraft. At the time, it was the longest spaceflight conducted by anyone.<\/p>\n

Robert Pearlman has the story behind the patch at Collect Space, which came about because of the wishes of the crew. During the initial Mercury missions, the pilots were able to name their spacecraft\u2014Freedom 7, Liberty Bell 7, and so on. Cooper had named his Mercury spacecraft \u2018Faith 7.\u2019 But an increasingly buttoned-up NASA ended this practice for the Gemini missions, and when Cooper and Conrad were assigned to the third Gemini flight they considered alternatives.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gemini 5 mission patch. Note the \u201c8 days or bust\u201d messaging on the wagon was covered up until after the mission was completed.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n NASA<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cSeveral months before mission, I mentioned to Pete that I\u2019d never been in a military organization that didn\u2019t have its own patch,\u201d Cooper recounted in Leap of Faith<\/em>, his memoir. \u201cWe decided right then and there that we were at least going to have a patch for our flight.\u201d<\/p>\n

They chose a covered wagon design to indicate the pioneering nature of the mission and came up with the \u201c8 days or bust\u201d slogan to highlight the extended duration of the flight. Since then, virtually every NASA mission has included a patch design, typically with names of the crew members. The tradition has extended to non-human missions and has generally been adopted by space agencies around the world.<\/p>\n

,<\/p>\n

As such, there is a rich tradition of space mission patches to draw on, and we thought it would be fun to share some of our favorites over the decades.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Apollo 11 mission patch.<\/p>\n

NASA<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

Apollo 11 mission patch.<\/p>\n

NASA<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Apollo 13 mission patch is the only other Apollo Moon mission without names.<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

The Apollo 13 mission patch is the only other Apollo Moon mission without names.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Apollo 17 mission patch had a lot going on.<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

The Apollo 17 mission patch had a lot going on.<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

The Apollo 13 mission patch is the only other Apollo Moon mission without names.<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

The Apollo 17 mission patch had a lot going on.<\/p>\n

Apollo 11<\/h2>\n

The first human mission to land on the Moon is one of the only NASA mission patches that does not<\/em> include the names of the crew members, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. This was a deliberate choice by the crew, who wanted the world to understand they were traveling to the Moon for all of humanity.<\/p>\n

Another NASA astronaut, Jim Lovell, suggested the bald eagle could be the focus of the patch. Collins traced the eagle from a National Geographic children\u2019s magazine, and an olive branch was added as a symbol of the mission\u2019s peaceful intent.<\/p>\n

The result is a clear symbol of the United States leading humanity to another world. It is simple and powerful.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Skylab rescue mission patch.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n NASA<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Skylab rescue mission<\/h2>\n

Skylab was NASA\u2019s first space station, and it was launched into orbit after the final Apollo lunar landing in 1972. From May 1973 to February 1974, three different crews occupied the space station, which had been placed in orbit by a modified Saturn V rocket.<\/p>\n

Due to some problems with leaky thrusters on the Apollo spacecraft that carried the second crew to Skylab in 1973, NASA scrambled to put together a \u2018rescue\u2019 mission as a contingency. In this rescue scenario, astronauts Vance Brand and Don Lind would have flown to the station and brought Alan Bean, Jack Lousma, and Owen Garriott back inside an Apollo capsule especially configured for five people.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, NASA decided that the crew could return to Earth in the faulty Apollo spacecraft, with the use of just half of the vehicle\u2019s thrusters. So Brand and Lind never flew the rescue mission. But we got a pretty awesome (if not quite official) patch out of the deal.<\/p>\n

,\"\"<\/p>\n

STS-1 mission patch<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

STS-1 mission patch<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

STS-6 mission patch with a clean design.<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

STS-6 mission patch with a clean design.<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

STS-1 mission patch<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

STS-6 mission patch with a clean design.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

STS-7 showcases the robotic arm.<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

STS-7 showcases the robotic arm.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

STS-8 nicely displays the power of the shuttle at launch.<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

STS-8 nicely displays the power of the shuttle at launch.<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

STS-7 showcases the robotic arm.<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

STS-8 nicely displays the power of the shuttle at launch.<\/p>\n

Space shuttle program<\/h2>\n

With the space shuttle, astronauts and patch artists had to get more creative because the vehicle flew so frequently\u2014eventually launching 135 times. Some of my favorite patches from these flights came fairly early on in the program.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, designing shuttle mission patches was a bonding exercise for crews after their assignments. Often one of the less experienced crew members would be given leadership of the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the Shuttle era, designing a mission emblem was one of the first tasks assigned to a newly formed crew of astronauts,\u201d Flag Research Quarterly reports. \u201cWithin NASA, creation of the patch design was considered to be an important team-building exercise. The crew understood that they were not just designing a patch to wear on their flight suits, but that they were also creating a symbol for everyone who was working on the flight.\u201d<\/p>\n

In some cases the crews commissioned a well-known graphic designer or space artist to help them with their patch designs. More typically they worked with a graphic designer on staff at the Johnson Space Center to finalize the design.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

NROL-61 is the iconic \u201cSpike\u201d patch.<\/p>\n

NRO<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

NROL-61 is the iconic \u201cSpike\u201d patch.<\/p>\n

NRO<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

NROL-39 is mildly terrifying.<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

NROL-39 is mildly terrifying.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

NROL-49 is downright apocalyptic.<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

NROL-49 is downright apocalyptic.<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

NROL-39 is mildly terrifying.<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

NROL-49 is downright apocalyptic.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This one is nice, except for the whole fire wielding thing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This guy doesn\u2019t look ominous at all.<\/p>\n

National Reconnaissance Office<\/h2>\n

The activities of the US National Reconnaissance Office, which is responsible for the design and launching of spy satellites, are very often shrouded in secrecy.<\/p>\n

However, the spy satellite agency cleverly uses its mission patches as an effective communications tool. The patches for the launch of its satellites (almost) never give away key details, but they are often humorous, ominous, and suggestive all at the same time. The immediate response I often have to these patches is one of appreciation for the design, followed by a nervous chuckle. I suspect that\u2019s intended by the spy agency.<\/p>\n

In any case, these are my choices for the best space patches ever, perhaps because they are developed with such abandon.<\/p>\n

,\"\"<\/p>\n

The Soyuz TM-24 mission to Mir in 1996 carried ESA astronaut Reinhold Ewald.<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

The Soyuz TM-24 mission to Mir in 1996 carried ESA astronaut Reinhold Ewald.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Soyuz T-6 mission to the Salyut 7 space station carried ESA astronaut Jean-Loup Chr\u00e9tien in 1982.<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

The Soyuz T-6 mission to the Salyut 7 space station carried ESA astronaut Jean-Loup Chr\u00e9tien in 1982.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Proxima was the name given to ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet\u2019s six-month mission on the International Space Station in 2016-2017.<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

Proxima was the name given to ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet\u2019s six-month mission on the International Space Station in 2016-2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The art of space mission patches is now more than six decades old, dating to the Vostok 6 mission in 1963 that carried Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova into low-Earth orbit for nearly three days. The patch for the first female human spaceflight showcased a dove flying above the letters designating the Soviet Union, CCCP. That […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9625,21],"class_list":["post-44540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-mission-patches","tag-space"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}