The Apollo program, also named Project Apollo, was the third United States human spaceflight program. It was carried out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which successfully landed the first humans on the lunar surface from 1969 to 1972. This article includes pictures and the meaning of all the Apollo mission patches.
Apollo Program Missions
NASA’s Apollo programs, or Project Apollo, were designed to land humans on the Moon and safely return them to Earth.
Six of NASA’s Apollo missions (Apollo 11, Apollo 12, Apollo 14, Apollo 15, Apollo 16, and Apollo 17) achieved this goal.
Apollo 7 and Apollo 9 were Earth-orbiting missions to test the Lunar Module and the Command Module. They didn’t return any lunar data.
Apollo 8 and 10 tested different components while encircling the Moon. And they brought back pictures of the Moons surface.
Apollo 13 did not land on the Moon due to a malfunction; they also returned images of the Moon’s surface.
Of all the Apollo missions, only six missions landed on the Moon. And they returned a treasure of scientific data—almost 400 kilograms of lunar samples.
Analyses included soil mechanics, meteoroids, heat flow, seismic, lunar ranging, magnetic fields, and solar wind experiments.
Read A Complete Guide of NASA’s Apollo Program here.
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What Was Project Apollo?
As previously stated, the Apollo Program (1963 – 1972) was designed to land humans on the Moon and bring them safely back to Earth. Here are all the patches from that program.
The Project Apollo symbol was a disk surrounded by a band representing the words “Apollo” and “NASA.”
The center disk had a large letter “A” with the constellation Orion placed so that its three central stars formed the bar of the message.
To the right was the Earth, with the Moon in the upper left of the center disc.
The Moon’s face symbolizes the mythical god Apollo. A double trajectory passed behind both spheres and through the central stars.
Apollo Manned Spacecraft Patches
Apollo 1 Patch
The symbol for the first piloted Apollo flight represented an Apollo spacecraft in Earth’s orbit.
In the background were the stars and stripes of the U.S. flag.
The crew members’ names appeared in the inner border. The Moon at the right is recalling us of the project goal.
Apollo 7 Patch
Signifying the Earth-orbital nature of the mission, a CSM circled the globe, trailing an ellipse of orange flame.
The background was navy blue, expressing the depth of space.
In the center, the Earth, with North and South America, appears against light blue oceans.
The crew’s names appeared in an arc at the bottom. Roman number VII appeared in the Pacific region of the globe.
Apollo 8 Patch
The shape of the figure symbolizes the Apollo CM.
The red figure-eight orbited the Earth and Moon, representing not only the mission’s number but also the translunar and transearth trajectories.
Apollo 9 Patch
Orbiting near the CM, the LM signified the first piloted spacecraft flight that would take humans to the lunar surface.
A Saturn V was at the left. The crew names appeared around the top of the badge, and the mission sign appeared along the bottom.
The ‘D’ in McDivitt had a red inside, classifying this as the “D” mission in the Apollo series.
Apollo 10 Patch
The shield-shaped emblem was based more on mechanics than on mission goals.
The three-dimensional Roman number X identified the mission and gave the impression of sitting on the Moon.
The Command Module circled the Moon as the Lunar Module passed low over the surface, with the Earth in the background.
Although Apollo 10 did not land, the prominence of the X indicated the mission would make a vital contribution to the Apollo program.
Apollo 11 Patch
Breaking tradition, they decided not to include their names to show they represented everyone who worked towards the historic mission.
Collins used National Geographic magazines to find the perfect eagle for the design, with its legs outstretched, coming into land.
It holds an olive branch to symbolize a peaceful landing by the United States.
In the original design, the eagle carried the olive branch in its beak, spreading its talons.
NASA officials rejected this design because they thought the eagle looked too aggressive.
Apollo 12 Patch
The Apollo 12 crew designed their patch with the help of their NASA co-workers.
All three crew members were United States Navy Commanders, so they took traditional Navy colors, gold and blue.
The crew invited artist Victor Craft to draw the final design of a clipper ship flying the U.S. flag to the Moon.
The three stars above the ship represent each crew member, with a fourth star representing Clifton Williams, who would have flown on Apollo 12 had he not been tragically killed in a plane crash.
Apollo 13 Patch
Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell began creating a patch with the idea of the Greek god Apollo driving his chariot across the sky, dragging the Sun with it.
The three horses driving his chariot across the moon’s surface symbolize how the Apollo flights have extended the light of knowledge to all humanity.
The Latin phrase “Ex Luna, Scientia” means “From the Moon, Knowledge.”
Apollo 14 Patch
The Apollo 14 insignia featured the astronaut insignia advancing on the Moon and leaving a comet trail from the liftoff point on Earth.
The mission name and crew name appeared on the border.
In the Apollo 14 patch, the object heading from Earth to the Moon is an astronaut pin.
Astronauts were given a silver version of this pin when they were accepted into the astronaut corps and a gold one after their first space flight.
As a joke, the backup crew for Apollo 14 also designed their patch.
A friendly rivalry between the two crews resulted in the prime team being nicknamed the ‘Three Rookies’ due to their lack of flight time.
The backup crew’s patch had a grey-bearded Wile. E. Coyote (a reference to Shepard’s advanced age) is beaten to the Moon by Roadrunner (the backup crew).
Apollo 15 Patch
After assessing hundreds of ideas for their mission patch, the Apollo 15 crew invited the Italian designer Emilio Pucci for help.
Pucci had been a pilot in the Italian Air Force, so the crew felt his perception of aviation would transfer to the design.
Pucci’s design combined three stylized birds flying in close formation to represent the three crewmembers working towards their common goal.
Two birds fly close to the Moon, with the third above—just like the mission itself, in which two crewmembers descended to the Moon while the third continued in lunar orbit.
The lunar surface in the background is the actual landing site, and amongst the craters, Roman numerals ’15’ are present.
Apollo 16 Patch
The Apollo 16 crew wanted to include the themes of patriotism and teamwork in their patch, along with the mission number and the team’s names.
NASA graphic artist Barbara Matelski took their ideas and designed a patch with everything they wanted.
An eagle perches on a red, white, and blue American shield to show patriotism.
The yellow chevron symbol, chosen from the NASA logo, represents teamwork.
Sixteen stars, representing the mission number and the crew names, appeared on a blue border outlined in gold.
Apollo 17 Patch
Apollo 17 Commander Eugene Cernan selected artist Robert McCall to design the patch for the last Moon landing.
The crew required the patch to convey the themes of humankind, the country, and the future.
McCall based his vision of Apollo on the Apollo Belvedere statue in the Vatican Gallery in Rome.
One of the most well-known classical representations of the Greek god.
He modified Apollo from white marble to gold to represent spaceflight’s ‘golden age.’
A mere eagle with red stripes symbolizes the United States, and three white stars represent the crew.
The eagle’s wing overlaps the Moon to show that it has been visited, while Apollo and the eagle gaze toward the future of human space exploration.
That’s it—I hope you enjoyed the article! To learn everything about all the Apollo Program Missions, visit this post: A Complete Guide to NASA’s Apollo Program.
