On January 16, 2025, SpaceX completed it's seventh integrated flight test of the Starship Super heavy booster and Starship. Originally, this patch would commemorate other milestones from this flight including the deployment of 10 Starlink simulation satellites and the first reflight of a Raptor engine, #314, which is also the first three digits of pi. However, the failure of the Starship led to a last minute change in the design of the patch. Instead it depicts the dramatic breakup of S33 over Turks & Caicos. I hope in the future I can redo the artwork for the Starlink simulator deployment.
The patch is 4 inches wide and should delivery in late-February 2025.
History was made again with the Starship Heavy program on October 13, 2024 when the Starship booster returned to base and was captured by the enormous "chopsticks" on its launch tower. Millions watched in awe as a 17-story object landed precisely and safely captured for reuse. This patch from Retrorocket Emblems is a bit different than previous offerings and goes with a bold Japanese style with literal chopsticks gripping Booster 12 with the text that translates to "SPACE IS DELICIOUS!". The patch is 4" wide and delivery is anticipated for mid-November.
SpaceX launched Starship Heavy Integrated Flight Test 4 on June 6, 2024 to great success. The flight met every milestone for the mission: hot stage ring separation, booster soft-landing on water, and Starship reentry survival (also with a soft-landing). Initially I designed the patch to highlight the booster soft-landing. After watching the launch, the clear universal highlight was "The Little Flap That Could": the incredibly resilient forward flap that still performed it's tasks despite the substantial damage due to thermal tile loss on re-entry. I decided to go with the original design as this was the original major milestone of this flight test, as it paves the way to actual booster capture and recovery at the launch tower. The patch depicts Booster 11's steamy water landing while Starship 29 continues its flight downrange (there's some artistic license here).
The patch will be 4 inches tall and delivery is expected mid-July 2024.
On March 14, 2024, SpaceX launched Starship IFT-3 from Boca Chica, Texas. This flight accomplished a significant number of new milestones for the booster and spacecraft. This patch commemorates three of the milestores accomplished by Starship S28: the payload door opening, the propellant transfer test and partial reentry.
On November 18, 2023, Spacex once again tested the full-stack of their super-heavy booster and starship. This time the test was much more successful despite the destruction of both flight components. The 33 Raptors successfully lifted the stack to the point of hot-staging where the Starship stage successfullly staged and boosted into a sub-orbital trajectory before breaking up over the Caribbean.
This patch depicts the dramatic stage separation as the vacuum Raptors ignite. The booster stage depicts the unique and dramatic engine cut-off order of engine shutdown just prior to hot-staging. The order is depicted in colors from warm to hot.
The patch will be 5 inches tall and expected shipment will be late December or early January due to the holidays.
Here is the approximate moment I wanted to capture in the patch:
This is the planned release, some details may differ in the embroidered patch due to limitations of embroidery:
Custom-designed by Retrorocket Emblems, these Starship replica heat tile coasters are based on the actual hexagonal heat shield tiles from the SpaceX starship. The bottom mimics the underside complete with mounting hardware. These are made of PLA so they are NOT heat-resistant, so they are better for cold drinks. They are four inches wide which is about 1/2 scale from the original items as mounted on Starship.
They come sets of two coasters and are made to order.
These are 3D printed items and will have some artifacts and importfections that are a part of the 3D printing process.
On Thursday, April 20, 2023, the SpaceX Starship full stack made it's maiden flight. Like many flights of this type, the milestones were generous and it achieved several before veering out of control and terminating its flight over the Gulf of Mexico. This patch notes several of the milestones that the test flight did achieve and shows the six Raptor engines that failed along the way.
The patch is 4" in diameter. Delivery expected mid-May.
This patch is a commemorative for the SN11 10k hop that took place on March 30, 2011 at the Boca Chica, Texas facility. Despite the ending, again, significant data was gathered for the Starship program.
The design is stylized like the Spinal Tap knob on their Marshall stack that "goes to 11".
This patch commemorates the first 12.5km hop of the SN8 flight test article. Patch is 4" wide. The patch depicts an altimieter that shows the final altitude achieved along side a bottom view of the SN8 vehicle showing the three Raptor engines that powered its flight. The "RUD" was added tot he design at the culmination of the largely successful test.
Price: $17 for one, $30 for two
