A Personal Story...

..."We named the command module America and the lunar module Challenger to salute the daunting task that lay ahead, and for a mission patch, turned our pen-scratched ideas and goals over to artist Robert T. McCall, who helped us come up with a wonderful design based on the theme of mankind, country and the future. The golden face of Apollo, Greek god of the Sun, was laid on top of a contemporary drawing of an American eagle. Red bars in the wings reflected our flag, and were topped by three white stars representing our crew. A deep blue background featured the Moon, Saturn and a spiral galaxy, with the eagle's wing just touching the moon to suggest this celestial body had been visited by man. Apollo gazes to the right toward the galaxy to imply further exploration, with the eagle leading mankind into the future"...

The Artwork

This is the official emblem of the Apollo 17 lunar landing mission which will be flown by astronaut Eugene A. Ceman, Ronald E. Evans and Harrison H. Schmitt. The insignia is dominated by the image of Apollo, the Greek sun god. Suspended in space behind the head of Apollo is an American eagle of contemporary design, the red bars of the eagle's wing represent the bars in the U.S. flag; the three white stars symbolize the three astronaut crew men. The background is deep blue space and within it are the Moon, the planet Saturn and a spiral galaxy or nebula. The Moon is partially overlaid by the eagle's wing suggesting that this is a celestial body that man has visited and in that sense conquered. The thrust of the eagle and the gaze of Apollo to the right and toward Saturn and the galaxy is meant to imply that man's goals in space will someday include the planets and perhaps the stars. The colors of the emblem are red, white and blue, the colors of our flag; with the addition of gold, to symbolize the golden age of space flight that will begin with this Apollo 17 lunar landing. The Apollo image used in this emblem was the famous Apollo of Belvedere sculpture now in the Vatican Gallery in Rome. This emblem was designed by artist Robert T. McCall in collaboration with the astronauts.

Preliminary Designs

Robert McCall tried a variety of ideas before he and the crew of Apollo-17 decided upon the final design of their patch. Shown here are three of Robert's preliminary sketches. The Stonehenge theme was proposed by Apollo-17 astronaut Jack Schmitt. This 3000 year old monument may have been an early astronomical calender and foreteller of eclipses of the sun and moon. An early sketch of the final patch is also here. Note that the eagle and order of names were changed in the end and that several astronomical elements were added before final prodution of the patch started by AB-emblem company.