posted 09-20-2024 02:36 PM               

These patches are very thin, the art is printed and not multi-layered and they have an adhesive backing. They do have a label of the same style that A-B Emblem uses, but the company has said they did not make these.

NASA recently donated a stack of these patches to a university. The space agency did not have any additional information about the patches' history.

After reaching out for assistance, several collectors have been able to identify where these may be from:

• Given the "2010" date, the initial assumption was these dated back to STS-131 or STS-132, around the time the artwork was finalized, but the Official Flight Kit manifests for those flights had no obvious matches.

• The STS-134 OFK manifest does include 200 Shuttle Commemorative End of Mission Patches being flown for presentation by the space shuttle program. (In fact, our article about that OFK included a picture of them, though at the time it was assumed they were dated for 2011 and it turns out that photo is not from STS-134.)
  

• Through further research by another collector, it is now known that an additional quantity was originally prepared for the STS-133 OFK but were removed due to due to lack of space. Instead, they were flown on ESA's ATV-2 (they were packed on Dec. 21, 2010 and ATV-2 launched on Feb. 16, 2011) and then were transferred onto the International Space Station for some time.

  It is unknown when and on what vehicle these patches were later returned to Earth.

• There is only one known example of an STS-134 or ATV-2 flown patch "in the wild" and it too was provided by NASA as part of an exhibit request by the Orland Park Public Library in Illinois. The library's entry for the patch in its online collection database includes what appears to be a sheet meant for distribution with the patches had they been distributed to workers:

  The Space Shuttle Program was intended to complete in 2010. Due to needed flights to complete the International Space Station, the Program was extended into 2011 to accommodate two additional flights. The patch you are receiving was obviously developed in 2010 before the decision to extend into 2011. See the final Space Shuttle Program patch with the correct dates to the left.

  

1. If not A-B Emblem, what company made these patches?

2. Does anyone have any additional information about the flown patches that could be useful for the university to know? For example, when and how were the ATV-2 flown patches returned to Earth?

3. Did NASA distribute any of the "2010" dated flown patches or, given the wrong date, did someone think better of it and they were just shelved until being provided in bulk to the university?

4. Did NASA ever fly patches (of any type) with the revised "2011" date?