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There are excellent photos that show the Apollo 11 crew in the mobile quarantine facility after the flight with an embroidered mission patch attached to their blue flight suits.

The patches are identifiable from these photos (e.g. in KSC-69PC-429 shown to the right) as being the so-called Biological Isolation Garment (or BIG) patch design.

Things get a little puzzling, however, when you look at closely at photos of the crew wearing the famous Biological Isolation Garments.

If you look at the detail on the left of the crew stepping out of the recovery helicopter onto the deck of the U.S.S. Hornet on their way to the mobile quarantine facility there is in fact no mission patch to be seen.

Where you might expect the patch to be there is just a plain dark circle.

Luckily, the story of what happened to the mysterious BIG patches is recounted by Buzz Aldrin himself in "Return to Earth" - "Just before we left the helicopter we ripped the Apollo 11 insignias off the isolation garments and handed them to the helicopter's crew. It was spontaneous and a way of saying thanks".

The dark patches on the BIGs in the photo above are actually circles of velcro, to which the mission patches were attached.

In one of the photos of the crew wearing the Biological Isolation Garments in the recovery dinghy before they boarded the helicopter it's just about possible to make out the mission patch in place on the Biological Isolation Garments of one of the crew members.
The Crew Patch

The patch worn by the crew on their Biological Isolation Garments and on their post-flight blue jump suits is that shown here.

This patch is believed to have been made by Texas Art Embroidery.

This patch is rare and highly sought-after, with examples generally selling for between about $300 to $500[1]. An exception is a recent example from the collection of, and signed on the reverse by, Michael Collins) which sold for $2520[2], perhaps because the buyer assumed from the description that it was the patch actually worn by Collins.

[1] Recent sales example:
eBay item no. 150172053744 October 22, 2007 sold at $440.51.
Astro-Auction: item no. 1210554111 (from Mike Collins, signed on the reverse), sold May 11, 2008 for $502.

[2] eBay item no. 250201147512 January 26, 2008 sold at $2520.00. (inc fees)

Apollo 11 Mission Patch Gallery
Crew Patch AB Emblem Lion Brothers Other Manufacturers

This patch, produced by Texas Art Embroidery, is the design worn by the Apollo 11 crew on their post-flight Biological Isolation Garments. [4" / 101mm]

This vintage bare cloth backed patch with a distinctively greenish lunar surface is apparently the first design to have been produced by AB Emblem.

This version has a velvety background but it also exists with a twill cloth background. [4" / 101mm]

The Lion Brothers patch has a different font and details (e.g. the landmasses on the Earth) from the crew version. In addition, the background is dark blue rather than the black of the crew patch. [4" / 101mm]

This patch was produced by Voyager Emblems in 1969. The patch has very fine detailing and a very nice rendition of the lunar surface. It has a bare cheesecloth back. [4" / 101mm]

[AS11UNK1] I thought this to be an early AB Emblem Apollo 11 patch but it may be from another manufacturer. The background is a darker blue than the common AB version shown to the far left and the landmasses on the Earth are a dark olive colour. The back is bare cloth, predominantly white. [4" / 101mm]

This is the more common vintage AB Emblem patch. The back of the patch is bare cloth and is predominantly black. [4" / 101mm]

This scarce variant of the Lion Brothers patch is notable for its orange border. [4" / 101mm]

[AS11UNK2] This vintage bare cloth backed patch from an unknown manufacturer has fairly crude stitching. May be from the same manufacturer as AS1UNK1 and AS12UNK4. [4" / 101mm]

[AS11UNK3] This vintage bare cloth backed patch from an unknown manufacturer has fairly crude stitching and appears to be a variant of AS11UNK2 shown on the left. [4" / 101mm]

[AS11UNK4] This vintage (acquired in 1969 or 1970) bare cloth backed patch from an unknown manufacturer appears to be a variant of AS11UNK3 above, the only significant difference being the outer border color. [4" / 101mm]
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