The Apollo 11 mission patch has become one of the most recognizable symbols of the American space program. Designed by the astronauts themselves, it was intended to be representative of the collective efforts of all those who had worked towards a lunar landing.
The Apollo 11 patch powerfully represents the hopes and intentions of America, NASA, and the three astronauts who would become the first humans to set foot on the moon. This article explores the making of the Apollo 11 patch, from the early design stages to its final production.
Creating the Design
The Apollo 11 crew was tasked with designing its mission patch, following in the footsteps of the crew of Gemini V. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins set out to create a patch that would be symbolic rather than explicit, representative of the collective efforts of everyone who had contributed to the mission. The crew decided to keep their names off the patch so that it would include all those who had worked towards the lunar landing.
Choosing the Design Elements
The decision to use the Arabic numerals “11” instead of “XI” or “eleven” was purposeful. Neil Armstrong disliked spelling out the word “eleven” because it might not be easily understood by non-English speakers. Another astronaut, Jim Lovell, suggested the eagle, the national bird of the United States, as the focus of the patch.
Michael Collins found a picture of an eagle in a National Geographic book about birds and traced it using tissue paper. He then sketched a field of craters beneath the eagle’s claws and the earth behind its wings. However, this preliminary design did not satisfy the crew.
The Final Design
Tom Wilson, a computer expert and the Apollo 11 simulator instructor, suggested the olive branch as a symbol of the peaceful expedition. The crew was delighted with that notion, and Collins quickly modified the sketch to have the eagle carrying the olive branch in its talons.
Highly realistic, the crater-pocked moon was colored grey, the eagle brown and white, the Earth blue, and the sky black. The embroidered patch was manufactured by A-B Emblems, a patch embroidery company started by E. Henry Conrad, and it was marked with every embroidery stitch required for the final product.
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Production of the Patch
Once the graphic was approved, a drawing of the design was created, and it was blown up to exactly six times the size of the patch. The enlargement was marked with a pencil to show every embroidery stitch required for the final product.
The sketch was then fed into the punching machine, which produced a roll of paper with punches for every stitch. The Swiss Embroidery Loom was threaded, and the punching roll and cloth were fed into it. After the machine finished embroidering, the emblems were cut and given a triple-thread pearl stitch border to ensure that they were ravel-proof.
Use of the Patch
The embroidered patches were sewn onto flight suits, recovery suits, jackets, and other official NASA gear for the mission. However, the spacesuits themselves did not have embroidered patches. Instead, the patch was silkscreened directly onto the fabric, along with the NASA logo and the American flag.
Conclusion
The Apollo 11 mission patch remains an iconic symbol of America’s lunar aspirations. The astronauts who designed the patch wanted it to be inclusive of all those who had contributed to the mission. The eagle, the national bird of the United States, and the olive branch, a symbol of peace, were combined in the design to represent America’s values. Despite the initial rejection of the patch, it remains one of the most recognizable symbols of America’s space program.
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