space memorabilia

Rejects and revivals

Calle’s patch design was not the only one ruled out by NASA’s officials.

At first, Stafford, Brand, and Slayton chose a design from a contest among the US space program’s workforce. The winner, Jean Pinataro of North American Rockwell (the prime contractor for the Apollo command module), came up with a concept that the astronauts liked, but the agency’s leaders rejected it for not having enough “international significance” (unofficially, it was also said to be “cartoonish”).

That led to NASA accepting the cost of hiring an artist from the NASA art program and Calle being invited to offer his ideas. It also resulted in the patch that flew.

When Calle stepped away, the decision was made to repurpose the work of Bob McCall, an artist who had designed the Apollo 17 mission patch and in 1974 had painted the scene of the Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft nearing a docking. McCall would go on to create similar art for a pair of postage stamps issued in the United States and the Soviet Union, while Pinataro adapted McCall’s original painting as the central image of the US ASTP emblem.

The cosmonauts had their own design—in fact, it was the first Russian mission patch to involve the crew’s input—but wore both their own and the US patch during their six days in space.

Today, 50 years later, the McCall-inspired design, the cosmonauts’ patch, and the Apollo-Soyuz program insignia are used interchangeably to represent the mission. Calle’s designs have been largely forgotten but are now getting a revival for the golden anniversary.

“I wanted to reimagine them. Not redo them, but bring them to life,” said Chris.

Working with a fellow artist Tim Gagnon, who created a number of the mission patches worn by space shuttle and International Space Station crews, Chris has begun the process of producing a limited number of embroidered patches based on his and his late father’s ideas.

Chris primarily focused on Calle’s dove and olive branch design.

“It certainly keeps to the spirit of my dad’s original idea,” Chris said.

Chris Calle asks readers to contact him via his website to be informed about when the limited-edition Apollo-Soyuz patches are available.

Click through to collectSPACE to see more of Paul Calle’s original designs and the reimagined versions by Chris Calle and Tim Gagnon.