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I have made some adjustments to the shipping options. Due to major increases in USPS First Class international rates, international customers have the ability to choose non-tracked shipping to bring their cost down. The option for tracked is still available at the new, higher rate. (First class USPS package with tracking to Europe is now $15) I will still have to manually refund you for combined shipping when you place an order with multple items. |
If you previously ordered this patch in the original round format, I am in the process of mailing you a replacement at no charge.
The original version of this patch was a spotted at auction on an orange flight suit once worn by a NASA "Vomit Comet" crew member. The KC-135 was used to simulate weightlessness for brief times for training purposes by climbing and diving on its flight path. The aircraft got its nickname from the common side-effect of these climbs and dives: air sickness. The patch depicts a pooch who is turning green and holding in his vomit whold holding a barf bag. The KC-135 is seen flying behind on it's sinusoidal flight path.
The patch is 4" in diameter.
The Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) was part of the United States Air Force (USAF) human spaceflight program in the 1960s. The project was developed from early USAF concepts of crewed space stations as reconnaissance satellites, and was a successor to the canceled Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar military reconnaissance space plane. Plans for the MOL evolved into a single-use laboratory, for which crews would be launched on 30-day missions, and return to Earth using a Gemini B spacecraft derived from NASA's Gemini spacecraft and launched with the laboratory.
The original patch was spotted as part of the historic Armstrong family collectible auctions in 2019. Previous Dyna Soar project patches have been produced but the auction listing for Neil Armstrongs patch revealed the detail of the patch which allowed me to create this high-fidelity replica. Limited to 50 patches.
| Original at Armstrong Auction | Retrorocket Emblem's Replica |
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This version of the Gemini 6 crew patch is the original design. The “GTA” designation stands for “Gemini-Titan-Agena”, however the launch of the Agena docking target failed, so the mission objective was changed to rendezvous with Gemini 7. The hexagonal patch with the stylized “6” shape was designed by Gemini astronaut Wally Schirra.
The STS-61E mission was cancelled after the challenger disaster, but before cancellation, only up to 200 patches were known to have been initially produced. Other replicas have been made of the STS-61E patch, however, it’s not common to find a two-piece replica of the patch.
SOLD OUT
The Black Cat patch was produced by the crew of STS-13 to celebrate the unlucky number 13 in their original flight designation. At the same time the official STS-41C emblem was being designed, an underground patch with a black cat and a number “13” was also being designed and quitely circulated. It was rumored that as few as 20 original patches (but likely no more than 50) were produced for distribution amongst the crew. The “Black Cat” artwork was designed by the late Dick Scobee.
