Resources

Except for Still and Kaplan, the books listed here are about the patch designs, even when they use embroidered patches to illustrate those designs. Collectors will find Still most useful. Otherwise, the list is in order by relevence.

• Price, Luke Wesley. Space Mission Art. Ammonite Press, 2019.
  This is the best book on space patches that has been published. The design and execution are top-notch, the illustrations are outstanding, the text is well-researched and accurate. To illustrate the patch designs, Price uses the original artwork in every case where it is available, resorting to embroidered patches only in the case of the three Gemini patches where artwork is unavailable. There simply is no better reference book on the topic. It includes patches from Gemini 5 up through the end of the Shuttle program. Only primary mission patches for manned US missions are included — no “alternate” designs, no backup crew patches, no “joke” patches, no personal patches. Nor does it include any ISS expedition patches.
• Lattimer, Dick. All We Did Was Fly to the Moon. The Whispering Eagle Press, Gainesville, FL, 1983.
  While now dated, this seminal book was for many years a primary resource for information about the early mission patches. Sadly, the author used uniformly bad embroidered patches to illustrate the designs. Despite that, the information presented is invaluable. Though rare, the first edition is preferable, as important content was dropped from the second edition.
• Still, Russell. Relics of the Space Race. Third edition, 2001.
  This excellent book, written as a guide for collectors of spaceflight memorabilia, provides a wealth of information on the manufacture of space mission patches. Very worthwhile for patch collectors. A review of this book can be found at collectSPACE. As it is now out of print, it may be challenging to find.
• Glushko, Aleksandr. Design for Space: Soviet and Russian Mission Patches. Dom Publishers, Berlin, 2016.
  This is a splendidly produced and beautifully illustrated volume, including a great many Soviet, Russian and international patches. Glushko’s claims to expertise with regard to this topic are extravagant to the point of absurdity. I can claim no expertise in the area myself, but Erik van der Hoorn certainly can, and he offered an extensive critique of this volume on collectSPACE. It’s a lovely and useful addition to my library, but I keep a printout of Erik’s comments right inside the cover.
• Launius, Roger D. An Unofficial History of NASA Mission Patches. Thunder Bay Press, 2020.
  This is a book I have very mixed feelings about. The production values are outstanding overall, but then seriously marred by the inclusion of what I can only call “gimmicks” that are clearly intended to attract children and gift-buyers with a space enthusiast to buy for: first, there is an actual (and removable) embroidered Apollo 11 patch embedded in the front cover; second, there is a set of stickers in the back (sadly, these pages are not removable: only the stickers are). My biggest gripe is that the publisher contracted one of the most esteemed and well-known space historians to write the text, and then proceeded to subvert actual history by including illustrations of bogus Mercury patches. Another serious error committed by the publisher was to substitute the ASTP project emblem for the American crew patch. There is a lot to like, and a lot to hate about this volume. I must also point out that Dr. Launius himself made a few serious blunders in his text. A beautiful, but seriously flawed book.
• Kaplan, Judith and Muniz, Robert. Space Patches: From Mercury to the Space Shuttle. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., New York. 1986.
  This book is off-kilter. While it puports to be about mission patches, it wastes an exobitant amount of ink describing missions. (In all fairness, most books that claim to be about patches suffer this fault.) While there are fairly lengthy descriptions of patch designs, there is little in the way of actual insight. Further, the descriptions all pertain to a single embroidered exemplar, rather than the artwork. All of the illustrations appear in a color section at the beginning of the book, and apparently include everything the author could find that bore even remotely on spaceflight: unmanned missions such as Viking and Voyager, facilities, anniversary commemoratives, corporate designs ... even the KSC Fire Department for goodness sake. It’s ludicrously inclusive, and only marginally informative.
• Vogt, Gregory L. Space Mission Patches. The Millbrook Press, Brookfield, CT. 2001.
  A children’s book, this is of no interest to any serious student of space patches. It listed here only for the sake of completeness.

• Hamblin, Dora Jane. Spacecraft Anonymous. Life magazine, October 8, 1968, pp. 109-119. Available online via Google Books.
• Freas, Frank Kelly. Skylab Patchwork. Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, June 1973, pp. 10-19. Available online right here.
• Simpson, Richard V. Space Mission Patches. Antiques and Collecting, January 1989, pp. 50-53.
• Wilson, Keith. The First US Astronaut Crew Patches. Spaceflight magazine, May 1996, pp.172-173.
• Kircher, Travis. More Than Just a Merit Badge. Ad Astra magazine, Nov/Dec 2000, pp. 23-25. Available online at collectSPACE.
• Borsche, Catherine E. & Brad Thomas. Mementos In Time. JSC Roundoup, February 2007, pp. 6-7. This doesn’t seem to be available online, but the text of the article is available at collectSPACE.
• Hengeveld, Ed. The Apollo Emblems of Artist Al Stevens. Spaceflight magazine, June 2008, pp. 220-225. A version of this tremendously interesting article is available online at collectSPACE.
• Brumfitt, A., L.A. Thompson, D. Raitt. The Art and Science of Mission Patches and their Origins in Society. Acta Astronautica, May 2008, pp. 715-720.
• Platoff, Anne M. Flags as Flair: The Iconography of Space Shuttle Mission Patches. Published in two parts: Part 1. Flag Research Quarterly, December 2013, pp. 1-8; Part 2. Flag Research Quarterly, June 2014, pp. 1-14. Available online as one file at escholarship.org.
• Wegener, Amanda. Art From the Inside: NASA Mission Insignia and Patches from Mercury to Apollo. Quest, Vol. 23 (2016), No. 4, pp. 3-17. A PDF version of this article is available from Quest.

• Without doubt, the best online resource for patch collectors is Chris Spain’s Crew Patches web site. Mr. Spain has done a tremendous job of researching the various versions of patches, and for years has been tracking the prices realized by these patches at auction. If you collect patches, this is the essential reference.
• Jacques van Oene has a comprehensive Space Patches website, which attempts to cover patches for all manned spaceflights, up to the present day.
• The collectSPACE site has a forum for discussing patches. All the past discussions are archived, which makes it an invaluable resource.
• NASA JSC has a podcast called, predictably, Houston, We Have a Podcast. In February 2020, the topic was Mission Patches.
• Wired magazine’s site has some amusing articles on space-related topics, including one entitled NASA's Most Awesomely Weird Mission Patches.
• The Space Review has a very nice interview with artist Mike Okuda, who has done several contemporary patches.

• Brooks, Courtney, Grimwood, James, and Swenson, Lloyd. Chariots for Apollo: A History of Manned Lunar Spacecraft. NASA, 1979. NASA SP-4205. Available online at the NASA History Office web site.
• Cernan, Eugene and Davis, Don. The Last Man on the Moon. St Martin’s Press, 1999.
• Collins, Michael. Carrying the Fire. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1974.
• Chambers, Joseph R. and Chambers, Mark A. Emblems of Exploration, Logos of the NACA and NASA, Monographs in Aerospace History, no.56, 2015. Available from NASA as a PDF.
• Cooper, Gordon. Leap of Faith. Harper Collins, 2000.
• Cunningham, Walter, with Herskowitz, Mickey. The All-American Boys. Macmillan Co., 1977.
• Duke, Charles and Duke, Dotty. Moonwalker. Oliver Nelson, 1990.
• Ezell, Edward and Ezell, Linda. The Partnership: A History of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. NASA, 1978. NASA SP-4209. Available online at the NASA History Office web site.
• Farmer, Gene and Hamblin, Dora Jane. First on the Moon: A Voyage with Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. Little, Brown, 1970.
• Glenn, John, with Taylor, Nick. John Glenn: A Memoir. Bantam, 1999.
• Hengeveld, Ed. Apollo Vacuum Chamber Tests — Part 1: 2TV-1. Spaceflight magazine, March 2000, pp.127-130. Part 2: LTA-8. Spaceflight magazine, April 2000, pp.171-174.
• Hitt, David; Garriott, Owen and Kerwin, Joseph. Homesteading Space, 2008.
• Kozloski, Lillian. U.S. Space Gear: Outfitting the Astronaut. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 1994.
• Kranz, Gene. Failure Is Not an Option. Simon and Schuster, 2000.
• Murray, Charles and Cox, Catherine Bly. Apollo, The Race to the Moon. Simon and Schuster, 1989.
• Shayler, David. Gemini 5: Eight Days in Space or Bust. Spring Praxis, 2023.
• Slayton, Donald K. and Cassutt, Michael. Deke! Forge, 1994.
• Southwell, David. Once-Lost 'Apollo' Mural Graces Astronauts' Eatery. Chicago Sun-Times, 8 June 1999.
• Townsend, Major-General E.D. Anecdotes of the Civil War in the United States. D. Appleton and Company, New York. 1884.