NASA Meatball Type IV

I had originally thought there was only one version of the blue-bordered NASA insignia patch used by the Apollo crews but in fact there are two distinct versions which I now identify as Type IV (previously identified as blue bordered variant 2) and Type V (the more common version).

The earliest appearance of the first version of the patch is probably in S68-46603 & 68H-730, which show the Apollo 7 crew in training in August 1968. Cunningham wears a blue bordered Type IV patch on his jump suit while the other two have the white bordered Type III patches.

Another early appearance is on the Apollo 8 recovery ship in December 1968. Photo 68-H-1415 shows Jim Lovell with astronaut Mike Collins who is wearing a blue-bordered Type IV patch on his jump suit.

The Type IV patch was worn by the Apollo 9 crew on one of the sets of blue flight suits they wore on the U.S.S. Guadalcanal at events after the recovery. The other set of flight suits had the white-bordered Type III patches.

The Type IV patch also appears to be the version worn by the Apollo 10 crew after that flight and is clearly identifiable on the flight suits worn by the Apollo 12 crew in quarantine, and on Roosa's flight suit after Apollo 14. Mitchell's patch is not clearly visible in the Apollo 14 photos I have and Shepard wore a white border patch on his flight suit (possibly a Type II Gemini-era version) as shown in KSC-71P-168.

High res images show that the Apollo 15 crew (at least Scott and Worden) also wore the Type IV patch, but on Apollo 13, 16 and 17 the crews wore the type V patches.

One of these patches, described as having been flown aboard Gemini 12, was sold at auction in 2007 by a relative of Buzz Aldrin. Whilst the Gemini 12 flown status is questionable it certainly seems likely to have come from Aldrin. The patch appears to have been removed from a garment, and may possibly have been used on a blue flight suit by Aldrin."