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Gemini 5 |
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Gemini 5 was the first mission to have an embroidered patch. Famously, the motto "8 days or bust" embroidered
on the side of the wagon in the design was deemed unacceptable by NASA and had to be covered over on the crew's patches
with plain cloth.
It seems that the two patches worn by Cooper and Conrad were more-or-less hand produced, with subtle differences in the
two designs being visible e.g. the running board to the right of the barrel on the side of the wagon
seems to be a little lower on Cooper's patch than Conrad's.
The closeup images on the right show the two patches in some detail.
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The Crew Patches |
| Patch id: | Gemini 5 Crew Patch | |
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| Worn by crew? | Yes. The patches were worn by the crew on their space suits. |
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| Flown? | Yes. Sewn to the space suits of the crew. |
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| Manufacturer: | Unknown. |
| Distribution: | Produced exclusively for the crew. |
| Dimensions: | Approx. 4" / 101mm |
| Type: | Partially embroidered on white felt? Stitched border with cut edge. |
| Scarcity: | Only two patches were produced, one per crewman. |
| Value: | Cooper's patch was sold recently for $19,120[1] |
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| Notes: |
This patch shown above is Cooper's, as photographed after the flight (photo id S65-59530). Note that the white background material on his patch seems to be very saggy. This was already visible on the post-flight pictures below the "5" of Gemini 5 and at the bottom of the patch where the inner black line is almost obscured by the sagging material.
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| Patch id: | Gemini 5 Crew Souvenir Patch | |
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| Worn by crew? | No. |
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| Flown? | Yes. Examples of this patch were carried by the
crew on the flight as souvenirs.[2] |
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| Manufacturer: | Unknown. The unusual appearance of the back of this patch indicates that it was likely produced by the same manufacturer as the GTA-6 Crew patch, the Gemini 7 Crew Souvenir patch and the Gemini 11 Crew patch. |
| Distribution: | Produced exclusively for the crew. |
| Dimensions: | 4" / 103mm |
| Type: | Partially embroidered on white twill. Stitched border with cut edge. |
| Scarcity: | Extremely rare. Only one unflown example sold in last few years.
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| Value: | An example sold for $1,440[2]. |
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| Notes: |
This design is easily identified by the large Gemini 5 text at the top which divides the brown inner border. The crew
carried examples of this patch as souvenirs on the mission alongside examples of the variant patch noted below.
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| Patch id: | Gemini 5 Crew Souvenir Patch variant | |
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| Worn by crew? | No. |
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| Flown? | Yes. Examples of this patch were carried by the
crew on the flight as souvenirs.[2] |
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| Manufacturer: | Unknown (see entry above) |
| Distribution: | Produced exclusively for the crew. |
| Dimensions: | 4" / 103mm |
| Type: | Partially embroidered on white twill. Stitched border with cut edge. |
| Scarcity: | Extremely rare. Only two examples seen.
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| Value: | Unknown |
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| Notes: |
This variant of the crew souvenir patch excludes the controversial "8 Days of Bust" text. According to Cooper's Letter of Authentication which accompanied
a flown example of this variant offered at auction by Christies in 2019, the text was not added to a run of patches due to a directive from NASA Administrator James Webb.
The letter states that in addition to this batch, the batch of patches with the text was flown anyway.
It's impossible to say how many examples of each patch were produced and how many of them were flown, but to-date I've only seen 2 examples of this variant.
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