Since the Gemini 5 spaceflight, all NASA astronauts have had one thing in common — they all have worn a mission-specific patch on their arm. And since 1975, each of the Apollo Moon Landing celebrations has had its own patch commemorating the first moon landing on July 21, 1969. The patches have become somewhat of a collector's item now, but in the early days, they were almost an afterthought, according to Alan Morgan of Apollo, who came up with the idea. “There were no patches the first five years (of the celebration),” he said. Morgan had presented the idea a few times during those five years, and finally got the go-ahead to design one in 1975. “That's the only one that didn't have a date on it,” Morgan said. The moon landing committee wasn't sure how the patches would sell, he said, so it wasn't dated. That way, extras could be sold the next year. Making the patches sans date turned out to be an unnecessary precaution. “It went off pretty good, so we just decided to continue it,” Morgan said. As the years went by, the patches kept the same general theme, the moon landing, but had other new elements added. Morgan said patches were designed commemorating anniversaries of the fire department and the 300th anniversary of the founding of Pennsylvania, with those themes woven into the moon landing theme. His favorite patch was one he designed in the early 1980s, with the head of the Greek god Apollo on it. “It's kind of hard to work something out with that theme every year,” Morgan said of the moon landing. In 1991, Gary Gardner, a longtime member of Apollo Hose Co. 2, took over the patch design. Gardner had collected the patches Morgan designed, and has Apollo mission patches which he displays with the moon landing patches. “I just kind of started collecting them,” Gardner said. “I thought those would look neat displayed with ours.” His patch designs often incorporate current events into the patch, he said. Coming up with a design is sometimes difficult, but Gardner said it's worth the work when he sees the finished product. “It's been fun,” he said. “It's a good feeling when people make a nice compliment about them.” This year's patches (and some previous years in limited supply) will be available during the moon landing celebration at Owens Field, price: $4.

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