NASA insignia patches

This white bordered NASA insignia patch is the version worn by the astronauts during the Gemini program, as can be seen in the closeup photo details shown on the right.

Although very similar in appearance to the Type I patch, this design can be distinguished by slightly less bold lettering. In addition, where the Type I patch has an open V-shaped pattern of three stars under the right leg of the final "A" (pointing up to the right), the Type II patch has a fourth star which turns it into a diamond shape.

An example of the Type II patch that was apparently taken from one of Gus Grissom's Gemini 3 space suits is shown here. This scan was kindly provided by Mike Zolotorow.

Note that most examples of this patch have the top left corner of the final "A" bisected by the vector but a few have the vector completely overlaying the top corner (leaving no white thread visible to the upper left) and slightly more bold lettering. You can see this more clearly in this side-by-side image of patches sewn to James McDivitt's Gemini-era flight suits, from images kindly provided by Dave Keeler. Another example of this variant was sold recently on eBay which had apparently been sent by the Gemini X crew as a gift.

For Apollo 1 the NASA logo patch used by the crews on their space suits was the white-bordered version shown here. The same design was used by the crews of Apollos 7, 8, 9 and 11 on their post-flight jump suits. Note that the Apollo 9 crew in fact had two different sets of jump suits, one with this patch and the other with the blue-bordered Type IV patch.

Although very similar in appearance to the Type II patch, this design can be distinguished by the fact that the top of the last "A" overlays the red vector, whereas in the earlier versions the red vector cuts through the top of the "A". The point of the vector is also thicker in this version than the earlier ones. Finally, the serif on the letter "N" is much more pronounced, with the top left of the "N" almost reaching the left border.

For Apollo 10, Apollo 12 and Apollo 14 the NASA logo patch used by the crews on their post-flight jump suits was the blue-bordered version shown here.

I had originally thought there was only one version of the blue-bordered NASA insignia patch used by the Apollo crews but in fact there are two distinct versions which I now identify as Type IV (previously identified as blue bordered variant 2) and Type V (the more common version).

The earliest appearance of the first version of the patch is probably in S68-46603 & 68H-730, which show the Apollo 7 crew in training in August 1968. Cunningham wears a blue bordered Type IV patch on his jump suit while the other two have the white bordered Type III patches.

Another early appearance is on the Apollo 8 recovery ship in December 1968. Photo 68-H-1415 shows Jim Lovell with astronaut Mike Collins who is wearing a blue-bordered Type IV patch on his jump suit.

The Type IV patch was worn by the Apollo 9 crew on one of the sets of blue flight suits they wore on the U.S.S. Guadalcanal at events after the recovery. The other set of flight suits had the white-bordered Type III patches.

The Type IV patch also appears to be the version worn by the Apollo 10 crew after that flight and is clearly identifiable on the flight suits worn by the Apollo 12 crew in quarantine, and on Roosa's flight suit after Apollo 14. Mitchell's patch is not clearly visible in the Apollo 14 photos I have and Shepard wore a white border patch on his flight suit (possibly a Type II Gemini-era version) as shown in KSC-71P-168.

I don't have good enough images of the NASA patches used by the Apollo 15 crew to know if they wore the Type IV or V patches, but on Apollo 13, 16 and 17 the crews wore the type V patches.

One of these patches, described as having been flown aboard Gemini 12, was sold at auction in 2007 by a relative of Buzz Aldrin. Whilst the Gemini 12 flown status is questionable it certainly seems likely to have come from Aldrin. The patch appears to have been removed from a garment, and may possibly have been used on a blue flight suit by Aldrin.

For Apollo 13 and Apollos 16 and 17 the NASA logo patch used by the crews on their post-flight jump suits was the blue-bordered version shown here.

Although very similar in appearance to the Type IV patch the Type V version can be differentiated by the much bolder large stars. The small star beneath the top-most large star is also displaced more to the right in this version and the two small stars inside the upper left end of the orbital ellipse are more widely separated.

This is the blue bordered patch that was apparently sold commercially by AB Emblem. Early cloth back versions of the commercial patch are thus the same as those worn by the later Apollo crews.

It should be noted that Jack Swigert wore a white border patch on his post-recovery flight suit as shown in 70-H-0641 , although he also wore a second suit with a Type V blue border patch that is visible in other post-recovery photos.