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I am disappinrted to have to raise my  TRACKED INTERNATIONAL shippings rates from $14 to $20. This also means a change from USPS to UPS (United Parcel Service) for this service. If I stayed with USPS it would increase to $25. Unforetunately, these rate incrases are out of my control. The most affordable rate is to use untracked postage, which remains $4. Please see my FAQ page. 

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This patch replicates the unique GTA-6 patch as worn by the astronauts in their early spacesuit portraits. These rare patches have been executed on leather, a one-and-only type for NASA. Only one example has been seen in the wild. 
Because of the unique construction, these patches are the first to be hand-made by Retrorocket Emblems. They are constructed of several layers of materials designed to replicate the unique features of these patches:
 
Printed design
Leather back
Cloth texture visible through print
 
These examples are made with "vegetarian" leather. This decision was made after a vigorous search was made for color,  texturally and tactile-correct leather that was not successful. 
The price is slightly higher for these patches than standard embroidered patches due to the hand-made nature of these items. Every patch will have a unique texture on the back. There are only 40 samples of these patches available at this time. 
Patch is 3 3/4 inches high. 
 

Patch is 3 3/4 inches high. 

One bundle price for all of Retrorocket Emblems' Artemis Patches. 

 

This is a set of six patches that mark some major technical milestones of the Artemis II flight. These will be hybid dye-sublimation patches and embroidery patches. I wanted the dye-sublimtion to provide an authentic background with embroidery in the classic style for tactile and visual appeal. Each patch is in the same five-sided shape as the Artemis Program logo. The major milestones in this release include:

  • Rollout
  • Ascent
  • TLI Burn
  • Lunar Flyby
  • Splashdown
  • Recovery

The patches are 4" tall.

As the Artemis Program progresses, additional patches will be added to the set for new Artemis milestones. 

Patches will not be sold individually at this time.

Shipping anticipated to begin first week of February 2026. 

 

I am excited to release Part II of my ongoing mosaic of linked mission patches, inspired by NASA’s Artemis II. This design depicts two astronauts inside the Orion capsule, gazing out the window in quiet awe at the lunar surface—a moment of reflection that captures the human side of this historic mission. Created to interlock with the first patch, it advances a larger, story-driven mosaic. Earth rises over the limb of the Moon, echoing Apollo 8—a mission with similar objectives. Artemis II represents a human return not just to the Moon, but to firsthand experience, and I’m excited to share this next chapter with collectors. The patch is 4 inches wide and features a hybrid embroidery and DTF construction.

The Space Shuttle mission STS-38 (Atlantis, launched November 15, 1990) was a Department of Defense flight carrying classified payloads for the U.S. government. Because the details of the mission were classified, aspects of its insignia and informal emblems have taken on some lore among space and military patch collectors. The official NASA mission patch features two stylized shuttle orbiters — one white on top and a black/white mirror image below. NASA’s explanation focuses on honoring all those who support the Space Shuttle program, with the mirrored orbiter symbolizing often-unheralded contributors. The "Dark" version inverts the light and dark parts of the insignia .It is not known known how many of the original patch were actually made for the crew and support personnel. This patch is a 4" patch and will ship mid-January 2026. 

It's been said that when NASA was interviewing Gemini astronaut candidates, they had them all register at the Rice Hotel in Houston as "Max Peck" (which turns out to be the name of the hotel manager). This patch requires some suspension of belief in order to imagine all of these pilots, test pilots and aviators mingling in the hotel lounge wearing all the same name tag. While this never happened, this name tag is a bit of a play on this imaginary moment of an actual event. The patch is 3 1/2" wide and includes a matching decal. This patch will come mounted on velcro, which is a first for Retrorocket Emblems. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did imaginging it! Available mid-December 2025. 

(Sample image, patch in production)

 

The original patch is extremely rare, and based on the embroidery style may have only been made by the handful. The design is simple and depicts the Roman god Mercury in profile. The patch is 3" in diameter. There's no official link of this patch to the program, so it's more of a curiosity than anything. Patch will be available to ship around December 1, 2025. 

 

The Lunar Orbiter program was a series of five uncrewed lunar orbiter missions launched by the United States in 1966 and 1967. Intended to help select Apollo landing sites by mapping the Moon's surface, They provided the first photographs from lunar orbit and photographed both the Moon and Earth.This patch commeorates the proram and depicts one of the probes imaging the lunar surface. Patch is 4" in diameter. 

 

Mariner 4 was a historic NASA mission that in 1965 became the first spacecraft to conduct a successful flyby of Mars, capturing the first close-up images of the planet and revealing a cold, cratered, and Moon-like surface with a thin atmosphere and no signs of life or canals. The mission provided essential data on interplanetary space conditions and radiation, paving the way for future deep space exploration and demonstrating the feasibility of long-duration space flights.  This partch commemorates the mission with the Mariner 4 probe passing over the planet Mars. Patch is 4" in diameter and is in stock. 

 

This patch is a replica of one of the rarest Gemini-era patches: the Gemini VIII crew patch, as few as 4 original examples may exist. There are a quite a few replicas of these patches already available and they are well done, however, these patches are too perfect in their modern production. The lines too crisp and the letters too sharp. This is Retrorocket Emblem's version that attempts to reproduce the perfect imperfections of the original. The patch is 3".
 
The original name tags, as worn by the crew, were hand-embroidered so each one, between training suits and the flight articles, had minute variations. These are an approximation of those hand-embroidered letters. Each patch comes with one of each name tag, a Retrorocket Emblem's first!
 

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