NASA Meatball Type II

Although very similar in appearance to the Type I patch, this design can be distinguished by slightly less bold lettering. In addition, where the Type I patch has an open V-shaped pattern of three stars under the right leg of the final "A" (pointing up to the right), the Type II patch has a fourth star which turns it into a diamond shape.

An example of the Type II patch that was apparently taken from one of Gus Grissom's Gemini 3 space suits is shown here. This scan was kindly provided by Mike Zolotorow.

Note that most examples of this patch have the top left corner of the final "A" bisected by the vector but a few have the vector completely overlaying the top corner (leaving no white thread visible to the upper left) and slightly more bold lettering. You can see this more clearly in this side-by-side image of patches sewn to James McDivitt's Gemini-era flight suits, from images kindly provided by Dave Keeler. Another example of this variant was sold recently on eBay which had apparently been sent by the Gemini X crew as a gift."