The Gemini-5 crew was the first to wear a crew patch on their spacesuits, starting a tradition which has been carried on until today. Frequently, astronauts state that the design of the crew patch is the hardest part of the preparation for a mission. Besides the official crew patch, several prime and backup crews have had unofficial ones designed which in a number of cases were also flown in space, ableit not on the astronauts suits.
Gemini-7 was the first mission with an unofficial patch, that was made as a joke for the back-up crew. The design was based on that of the actual crew patch, but the burning "Olympic" torch on that one was replaced by one that was not burning. The patch also showed a hand with a cigarette lighter and the text "NEED A LIGHT-FRANK? JIM?", referring to the prime crew of Gemini-7: Frank Borman and Jim Lovell. It is not know to me whether or not the Gemini-7 back-up crew: Edward White and Michael Collins actually wore this patch at any time.
Gemini 11
Not a joke version of the official crew patch but one with just the names of the backups instead of the prime crew members was used for Gemini-11. It is known that this one was indeed worn by the backup crew members, Neil Armstrong and Bill Anders.[1]
Gemini 12
The tenth and final manned Gemini mission, Gemini-12, was scheduled for launch around Halloween, but problems with the Titan-2 launch vehicle delayed the launch to November 11, 1966. Crew members were Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin (prime) and Gordon Cooper and Gene Cernan (back-up). Although the prime crew's patch is known as the "Halloween patch", the back-up patch looks more like one. It's main feature being an orange pumpking face with the words "TRICK OR TREAT" above it and the back-ups first names, Gordo and Gene, below it. It is not known to me if the back-up crew actually wore this patch.
Apollo 14
As far as is known, the only Apollo mission to have a joke crew patch was Apollo-14. It was the backup crews version of the official mission emblem and featured the cartoon characters Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner. The prime crew members names on the gold border had been replaced by those of the backup crew, Cernan, Evans and Engle. The prime crew was symbolised by Wile E. Coyote, who upon reaching the Moon finds the Roadrunner, symolising the backup crew, holding the "1st Team" banner. The coyote had some features that referred to the prime crew. Its red fur stood for CM pilot Roosa, who had red hair. The pot belly was a reference to LM pilot Ed Mitchell, who reportedly was not very keen on exercising. The grey beard stood for "Old Man" Al Shepard. The patch was designed by the backup crew [3], and a large number of them actually flew on board the Apollo-14 Command Module [3,4]. According to astronaut Stu Roosa in 1993, "they kept popping up everywhere" [5]. Even when unpacking the Modular Equipment Transporter on the Moon, Shepard and Mitchell found one![3,6]
Skylab II
The main feature on the second Skylab crew patch was Leonardo da Vinci's universal man, slightly retouched to make it "G-rated"! Without their husbands knowledge, the astronaut wives also had a patch made wich was a joke version of the official crew patch. The universal man figure had been replaced by a "universal woman". Instead of the astronauts names; Bean, Garriott and Lousma, their wives first names were shown: Sue, Helen-Mary and Gratia. The crew first became aware of the wives patch when they found stickers of them in their lockers on board Skylab. The idea for the patch came from journalist-artist Jacques Tiziou of Merritt Island, Florida and it was designed by Ardis Shanks Settle of Houston.[7] Unlike the Apollo-14 Roadrunner patch, the wives patch was not made commercially available. Only 320 were made and three of these were put up for auction in 1995, 1996 and 1997, where they fetched $460, $161 and $258.75 respectively.[8]
ASTP
The support crews for the Apollo Soyuz Test Project had their own version of the ASTP crew patch, in wich the crew members names are replaced by the (nick-)names of the American and Soviet support crew members: Bo (Bobko), Bob (overmyer), Crip (Crippen), Troop (Truly), Johnny (dzhanibekov), Boris (Andreyev), Yuri (romanenko) and Sasha (Ivanchenkov). Although the picture that is published came from cosmonaut Valery Illarionov, the cosmonaut who acted as Soviet capcom in Mission Control in Houston, it is not known where it originated. However, given the fact that all the names are in Latin characters, it is likely that it came from the US. There, patches of this design actually were manufactured, although it is unknown if this was during the ASTP program or later, as a spuvenir.
STS 8
This "SPOOKY" looking CHALLENGER patch was designed by STS-8 Pilot DAN BRANDENSTEIN. At the center of the patch are two Space Shuttle cockpit-windows. In the right window, Commander RICHARD TRULY's eyes, behind spectacles, can be seen looking casually at things to come. RICHARD TRULY was the only veteran on board STS-8. The wonders of spaceflight might have seemed routine to him, having previously flown aboard STS-2. In the left window four pairs of wide open eyes can be seen gazing out. The eyes of the four rookies,(DAN BRANDENSTEIN, DALE GARDNER, GUY BLUFORD and BILL THORNTON) commander Truly led to space. The eyes seem curious or nervous, as they are making their first trip to space. According to people who were involved in the mission, the real story behind the patch was that it showed the bespectacled mission specialist Dr. Bill Thornton, after the blood of the other crew members, who were frantically trying to get away from him. As part of Thornton's investigation into space sickness, he had to take some blood from his fellow crew members....
STS 41C
The mission's sequence number originally had been STS-13, and it has been rumoured that the entire change in the numbering system for Space Shuttle missions after STS-9 was done to avoid having to fly "STS-13". NASA still remembered Apollo-13!! The crew, Robert Crippen, Francis "Dick" Scobee, George "Pinky" Nelson, Terry J. Hart and James van Hoften decided to challenge fate and Scobee designed a patch showing symbols of bad luck, such as a black cat, the number 13 and a Shuttle flying from underneath(!!) the cat to space. The patch has the crews nicknames, CRIP, DICK, TJ, OX and PINKY on it. Apparently, the patch was extremely exclusive, George Nelson has stated that he understood that less than twenty of these patches have been manufactured.[9]
STS 70
This funny alternate version of the official STS-70 crewpatch was made after a bizarre incident had caused the launch of Discovery to be postponed. The flight, wich NASA had labelled the 100th manned US space flight, was delayed because woodpeckers had chosen the External Tank as their target for drilling holes. After a while the insulation was damaged to such an extent that on June 8, 1995, it was necessary to roll back the vehicle to the VAB. After one week of repairs, Discovery was returned to the launch pad. In "honour" of the pesky little varmints, JSC employees Paula Vargas and Andrew Parris took the original STS-70 patch design and added a smilling Woody Woodpecker, popping out from behind the Shuttle with his arms wide open. When the crew saw this alternate patch, they loved it. The crew recieved one hundred of these patches and Don Thomas ordered an additional hundred for himself. It is not known whether one or more of these patches actually flew on board Discovery when the mission was finaly launched on July 13, 1995.[10]
STS 69 The "Dog" crew
During STS-53, which was commanded by red-haired Dave Walker, some dog jokes were played, referring to Walkers nick-name while in the military: Red Dog. When his next misson, STS-69, came along, Walker decided that that it would be good for morale to have a little fun and for that, the dog theme was used. Nick-named "Dog crew II" (STS-53 had of course been the first), a special patch was suggested by Ken Havekotte of Merritt Island, Florida, and subsequently designed by Joel Katzowitz of Marietta, Georgia. It carried the "dog-names" of the astronauts: Red Dog (Dave Walker), Cujo (Ken Cockrell), Dogface (Jim Voss), Pluto (Jim Newman, a former astronomy professor) and Underdog (Mike Gernhardt, a former commercial deep sea diver). Unlike the missions mentioned above, the crew actualy wore the patch on their flight suits when they arrived at KSC a few days prior to launch. The dog theme was cherished to such an extent, that dthe crew breakfast on launch day, they even ate from dog bolws! Also, when the crew left for the launch pad on launch day, the NASA worm, traditionally worn on the right upper arm of their space suits, was replaced by a small Snoopy patch. For years Snoopy has been the astronauts mascot. Once they were launched, the crew would get a dog related wake up call every day, like the themes from "Rim Tin Tin" and "Scooby Doo", and Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog".[11]
STS 77 The "Gods" crew
This is a "funny" alternate version of the STS-77 crewpatch. One of the crew members on STS-77 was Canadian Mission Specialist Marc Garneau. Garneau was the first Canadian to fly in space back in 1984 on mission STS-41G.Other STS-77 crewmembers would tease him that it was such a long time ago, that it must have been back in the Apollo program days.The name "Apollo" stuck and slowly but surely, all the crew members were given nicknames of mythological gods. Of course, commander John Casper became the supreme god Zeus after the famous Greek inhabitant of Olympus. Pilot Curt Brown became Saturn. Saturn is the somethimes cantankerous Roman god of agriculture and since Brown is part owner of a Texas farm and can be said to share some personality traits with Saturn, the crew bestowed that name on him. Mission Specialist Andy Thomas name had appeared on numerous mission related documents as Andy Thoron before the error was caught, so he immediately became the Norse god of thunder, Thor. Mario Runco was named for the Roman god of the sea, Neptune, because of his professional background in oceanography. Dan Burch was initially nicknamed Pan for the Greek god of flocks and shepherds as he was the one who seemed to arrange for the crew's social gatherings. However, since Burch was the shortest member of the crew, the original reference to Pan was quickly lost and was displaced by a reference to the cute but impish figure of Pan from Walt Disney's movie "Fantasia". Later it was changed to Bacchus for the Greco-Roman god of wine to recapture the social reference. The design of the "gods" patch was simular to the official one; only the names were changed. A sketch of the design with the crew members depicted as the mythological gods was displayed on Endeavours middeck during the mission. It was placed aboard Endeavour, as is the tradition, by the close out crew Astronaut Support Person (ASP), in this case astronaut Mike Gernhardt, as a token of good luck from the then launch director, Jim Harrington. The gods sketch appeared in several inflight video clips and photographs taken during the mission. Neither patches nor stickers of the design were manufactured. It was drawn by Julie Davis who worked in the United Space Alliance's test operations office at KSC.[12]
STS 88 "Dog crew III"
The recently completed Shuttle mission STS-88 included two astronauts from previous Dog Crews: Bob Cabana (STS-53) and Jim Newman (STS-69). In January 1997 the STS-88 crew, coresponding by e-mail with Joel Katzowitz, offered him the opportunity to design a Dog Crew III patch Because the crew did not want to detract attention from the primary goal of the mission, the assembly of the International Space Station, they decided to request a "Stealth" patch, and so the Stealth Dog Crew III was born. The shape of the patch itself is that of a doghouse with a peaked roof. There is a typical doghouse door cutout in the center revealing a stealthy (F117-like) orbiter flying directly at you, upon closer inspection, the orbiter may reveal itself to be a dog's face. The ISS stack in the payload bay consists of the Russian built "Zarya" control module and the U.S built "Unity" module. The star constellations in the space around the orbiter are Canis Major (the Large Dog) and Canis Minor (the Small Dog). The typography on the patch is Cyrillic, the Russian alphabet, which contributes to the stealth theme. The red letters at the peak of the roof translate to SDC III (Stealth Dog Crew III) while the blue letters that surround the door are the crew's dog tags. Clockwise from the lower left: Mighty Dog, Devil Dog, Hooch, Laika, Pluto, and Spotnik (at the bottom of the door). The crew kept the patch low key; only Newman could be seen wearing it during crew arrival. On the first launch attempt, none of the crew was wearing the patch, much to the dismay of the white room close-out crew, who had been able to get a few patches shortly before the mission and greeted the crew, proudly wearing it on their white suits. During the second launch attempt, Newman made it up to them, wearin the patch on his right arm of his orange flight suit.
Conclusion
Most unofficial patches that have been designed by/or for crews are relatively unknown. Therfore, it is far from certain that this overview is complete: there may be others that nobody outside the crew and maybe a very small circle around them is aware of at this time. Any information on such designs will therefore be welcome through the correspondence pages of Spaceflight
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the following people for their help in getting photographs and information for this article: Mike Gentry and Debbie Dodds of NASA, JSC Media Resource Center; Jacques Tiziou; Dave Shayler; Andrew Parris; Erik v/d Hoorn, and the crew members mentioned in the notes below.
NOTES:
1. Spaceflight, July 1994.
2. Spaceflight, May 1996.
3. A man on the moon, by Andrew Chaiking, 1994.
4. Astronaut Eugene Cernan, 1988.
5. Astronaut Stu Roosa, 1993.
6. Apollo Lunar Surface Journal.
7. All we did was fly to the moon, by Dick Lattimer, 1983.
8. Catalog for Superior Space auctions, 1995, 1996, 1997.
9. Astronaut George D. Nelson, 1988.
10. Andrew Parris 1997.
11. Astronaut Jim Newman.
12. Astronaut Mario Runco, 1998.