A Personal Story...
..."Our ASTP (Apollo-Soyuz Test Project) crew patch was a composite of Rockwell International and NASA ideas. Stan Jacobsen at the Johnson Space Center provided us with the final drawing of the patch. The Patch carries the names of the three American and two Soviet crewmen and the words Apollo in English and Soyuz in Russian around an artist's concept of the Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft about to dock in Earth orbit. The white stars on the blue background represent the American astronauts, the gold stars on the red background represent the Soviet Cosmonauts. Tom Stafford, Deke Slayton and I presented the concept of the patch to the Soviet crew during a pre-mission training session. Leonov and Kubasov agreed that the design should become the crew patch for the international mission"...
Astronaut, Vance Brand in, "All we did was fly to the moon"
The Crew
These five men compose the two prime crews of the joint U.S.-USSR Apollo Soyuz Test Project docking in Earth orbit mission scheduled for July 1975. They are Astronaut Thomas P. Stafford (standing on left), commander of the American crew; Cosmonaut Aleksey A. Leonov (standing on right), commander of the Soviet crew; Astronaut Donald K. Slayton (seated on left), docking module pilot of the American crew; Astronaut Vance D. Brand (seated in center), command module pilot of the American crew; and Cosmonaut Valeriy N. Kubasov (seated on right), engineer on the Soviet crew.
The Artwork
The painting (on the left, made by artist Robert McCall) stood model for the patch.
This is the American crew patch of the joint U.S.-USSR Apollo Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) scheduled for July 1975. Of circular design, the patch as a colored border area, outlined in red, with the names of the five crewmen and the words Apollo in English and Soyuz in Russian around an artist's concept of the Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft about to dock in Earth orbit. The bright Sun and the blue and white Earth are in the background. The white stars on the blue background represent American Astronauts Thomas P. Stafford, Vance D. Brand, and Donald K. Slayton. The dark gold stars on the red background represent Soviet Cosmonauts Aleskey A. Leonov, and Valeriy N. Kubasov.
Original Design
The initial design provided to Eugene Dorr by the JSC History Office. It is black and white, the colors shown here are speculative. On the right: the patch by Randy Hunt.
The initial version of the ASTP patch as submitted by the American prime crew for approval in the spring of 1974. It was disapproved by NASA Headquarters, with the explanation, "since this is a significant international project ... perhaps a patch depicting more of the international significance might merit further consideration." The crew apparently didn't make much of this direction, as they re-submitted the same design without change. It was again rejected. In December a second design was submitted for approval, which was finally granted.
Thanks to Eugene Dorr.
Lion Brothers
The Lion Brothers version of the ASTP crew patch. At the bottom of the patch the hallmark ASTP.
Something Different
Wayne Begnaud was in the sixtees and seventees a space enthusiast. He was in a way involved in the design of the Apollo Soyuz Crew Patch.
"In the Fall of 1974 I created a ASTP crew patch design that I mailed to the late Deke Slayton. He showed my design to his crewmembers and they responded with a letter (see below, click on letter for larger image). Needless to say I was very excited about my small contibution to the final design of such an historic space mission. I was eighteen years old at that time".
