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Gemini 9

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Gemini 9 photos
Patches worn by the Gemini 9 crew

The Gemini 9 embroidered patch, as seen in these details from various photos, shows the Gemini spacecraft in rendezvous with an Agena target vehicle and an astronaut performing an EVA.

It can be clearly seen that the crew (and support staff) wore the patches without the name tab.

Gemini 9 patch worn by Stafford

During training for the Apollo 10 mission, however, Stafford wore the complete version with the name tab alongside a Gemini 6 crew patch on his flight suit, as can be seen in the photo on the right taken from the LIFE magazine archives.

The Crew Patches

Patch id:

Gemini 9 Crew Patch

Worn by crew? Yes. The crew wore these patches on their space suits during the mission. Gemini 9 crew patch
Flown? Yes. Worn on space suits and carried as souvenirs.
Manufacturer: Texas Art Embroidery.
Distribution: Likely limited to the crew and NASA.
Dimensions: 4 x 3½" / 102 x 90mm with tab
Type: Fully embroidered on black or dark blue cloth. Stitched border with cut edge.
Scarcity: Extremely rare. Only three unflown examples sold in recent years.
Value: Unflown examples sold in the last few years went for $850 to $1252[1].
Notes: The Crew Patch was produced with a name tab but this was trimmed away for use on the space suits of the crew. Examples that surface today are sometimes intact and sometimes trimmed, as per this example.

This patch has now been identified as having been produced by Texas Art Embroidery for NASA. The production run was likely limited to something like 110 examples, as was the case with the TAE Gemini 10 patch.

Patch id:

Gemini 9 Crew Souvenir Patch [GT9UNK1]

Worn by crew? Yes. Worn by Cernan on his flight jacket alongside Apollo 10 and 17 crew patches at around the time of the Apollo 17 mission, as seen here. Gemini 9 crew souvenir patch
Flown? Yes. An example sold at Bonhams in 2014 was identified as flown by Stafford.
Manufacturer: Unknown.
Distribution: Unknown.
Dimensions: 3¾ x 3¼" / 97 x 82mm
Type: Fully embroidered. Merrowed border with 'tail'.
Scarcity: Very rare. Around three examples sold in recent years.
Value: Recent examples sold for $430 to $840[3].
Notes: This distinctive vintage patch merges the lower name tab of the crew version into the main body of the patch. As well as being worn by Cernan on his flight jacket a few years later, at least one example of this patch was also flown on the mission, as evidenced by a flown example sold at Bonhams in 2014 from Stafford's estate.

Other Embroidered Mission Patches

Patch id:

[GT9UNK2]

Worn by crew? No. Gemini 9 patch GT9UNK2
Flown? No.
Manufacturer: Unknown.
Distribution: Unknown.
Dimensions: 4 x 3½" / 100 x 88mm
Type: Fully embroidered on grey twill. Stitched border with cut edge.
Scarcity: Extremely rare.
Value: Examples have sold in the last few years for $500 to $1010[4].
Notes:

This patch, only identified in 2009, is a very close match to the Crew patch but has enough distinct differences to indicate that it was likely produced by a different manufacturer and is not just an example of a separate production run of the Crew patch.

Notable differences include the fact that it is embroidered onto grey cloth (the crew patch has dark blue or black), the blue background thread has an apparent vertical alignment (horizontal on the crew patch), the "IX" is thinner than the crew version (on which the X meets up above and below the Agena), and the astronaut has a much bolder outline.

Given that this patch appears to be as rare as the crew version it is likely that it was never available commercially, and may possibly have been produced by another manufacturer hoping to supply the patches to be worn by the crew.

Patch id:

AB Emblem 2010 Replica patch

Worn by crew? No. AB Emblem 2010 replica Gemini 9 patch
Flown? No.
Manufacturer: AB Emblem
Distribution: Available commercially.
Dimensions: 4" / 102 x 73mm
Type: Fully embroidered. Stitched border with cut edge.
Scarcity: Limited production run.
Value: On sale at approx. $7
Notes: A high quality modern replica of the Gemini 9 crew patch, produced by AB Emblem in 2010 in collaboration with Gene Dorr.
Patch id:

AB Emblem souvenir patch

Worn by crew? No. AB Emblem Gemini 9 souvenir patch
Flown? No.
Manufacturer: AB Emblem
Distribution: Sold commercially.
Dimensions: Approx. 3" / 75mm
Type: Partially embroidered. Merrowed edge with 'tail'.
Scarcity: Common.
Value: Minimal value.
Notes: The standard souvenir AB Emblem version of the patch is crude and incorportates the crew names into a tabless design.
Patch id:

Eagle One Aerospace Replica patch

Worn by crew? No. Eagle One Aerospace replica Gemini 9 patch
Flown? No.
Manufacturer: Eagle One Aerospace / Cargo Bay Emblems
Distribution: Was available commercially.
Dimensions: 4 1/8 x 3¼" / 105 x 83mm
Type: Partially embroidered. Stitched border with cut edge.
Scarcity: Uncommon.
Value: Unknown.
Notes: A fairly accurate replica patch produced in the late 80s by Eagle One Aerospace. The most obvious difference is the triangluar hatch on this version.
Footnotes

[1] Examples of unflown Gemini 9 patch sales:
    Trimmed example from NASA suit tech Clyde Teague's collection, eBay item #230105219919 March 22, 2007 sold at $1252.
    Trimmed example originally from NASA suit tech Walt Salyer's collection, eBay item #250365810666 Feb 6, 2009 sold at $899.
    Goldberg Space Auction lot no. 1100 Jul 10, 2011 sold at $1180 [trimmed, ex Al Rochford, suit tech]
    RR Auction lot 155 Apr 22, 2014 sold at $857.50 (unflown, mounted with crew ISP)

[2] Flown untrimmed version sales:
     Heritage Auctions September 21, 2007 lot 25080 at $5078.75 (inc buyer's fees).
     RRAuction Oct 15, 2020, Lot 4041 at $10,798.75 (FLOWN from Cooper).
     RRAuction Apr 22, 2021, Lot 3800 UNSOLD at $4,693.75 (FLOWN by Stafford).

[3] Crew Souvenir patch [GT9UNK1] sales:
    eBay item 220358579103 Feb 13, 2009 sold at $473.89
    eBay item 220362053919 Feb 19, 2009 sold at $458.78
    Lunar Legacies Spring 2010 auction lot no. 98 Sold Mar 6, 2010 at $431.25
    eBay item 360484976595 Sep 9, 2012 sold at $511.01
    eBay item 111039449264 Mar 28, 2013 sold at $450
    Bonhams Space Auction lot 131 Apr 8, 2014 sold at $6,000 [FLOWN by TS]
    eBay item #221987206918 Jan 12, 2016 sold at $511.50 with other scarce patches
    eBay item #122918157282 Jan 18, 2018 sold at $511 [offer accepted]
    American Space Museum & Space Walk of Fame auction lot 39 Apr 10, 2021 sold at $840
    Heritage Auction Dec 6, 2024 Lot 50018 sold at $5,750 [FLOWN by TS]

[4] GT9UNK2 sales:
    eBay item #220367887547 Mar 3, 2009 sold at $1009.99
    eBay item #250410135190 Apr 26, 2009 sold at $500
    eBay item #360228200485 Jan 31, 2010 sold at $525.55
    eBay item #123055106786 Apr 5, 2018 sold at $520.00

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