Apollo 13 Mission Patch

Apollo 13 Mission Patch

Commander Jim Lovell began designing this patch with the idea of mythical god, Apollo, driving his chariot across the sky, dragging the Sun with it. This idea was given to an artist in New York named Lumen Winter, who came up with the three horse design symbolising Apollo riding across the sky towards the Moon and leaving Earth in the distance.

The Latin words, Ex Luna Scientia – meaning “From the Moon, knowledge” – appear on the patch, as Lovell wanted to highlight the importance his crew placed on the science aspect of the mission. This phrase was a parody of the U.S Naval Academy’s motto, Ex trident, Scientia – “From the sea, knowledge.”

Other than the Apollo 11 patch, this is the only one that does not include the names of the crew. Interestingly the original Command Module Pilot, Ken Mattingly, was replaced at the last minute by Jack Swigert because Mattingly had been exposed to the German measles virus. Later crews probably decided to include their names as standard, rather than tempt fate!

Prior to designing the patch, Lumen Winter painted a large wall mural in a New York hotel of horses crossing the sky with the Earth below. The horses are very similar to the ones on the Apollo 13 patch. Several years later the mural appeared at an auction of space artefacts. It was purchased by the actor Tom Hanks, who portrayed Jim Lovell in the film Apollo 13. Hanks then gave the painting to Lovell as a present.

Web resources

• A History of Crew Patches