When they arrived on the U.S.S. Essex following the recovery operation the Apollo 7 crew were wearing their betacloth flightsuits complete with betacloth mission patches as shown in the first two photos above.
Some time thereafter, however, they changed into blue jumpsuits which had embroidered mission patches attached. These embroidered mission patches are shown quite clearly in detail from the photo KSC-68PC-211. |
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The photographic evidence shows that the patch worn by the crew on their post-flight jump suits is that shown here.
This patch was actually embroidered as a circular design with a white surround, as worn by the suit techs in S68-48789. For the crew's jump suits the patches were trimmed around the emblem itself to leave the shape shown on the photos of the crew above.
It is not clear who manufactured this patch.
This is probably the rarest of the Apollo crew patches and the only example to come to market in recent years sold for $1184[1]. Beware of modern copies (replicas) which usually lack the diagonal ribbing visible on the South American landmass in the real thing.
