Emilio Pucci Concept Sketch for Apollo 15 Mission Patch

Emilio Pucci Concept Sketch for Apollo 15 Mission Patch

Sketch on tracing paper made by the Italian fashion designer Emilio Pucci on behalf of the Apollo 15 crew. Apollo astronauts had the responsibility of coming up with themes and designs for their mission patches. This allowed their creative juices to flow, layering the final mission patch designs in metaphor and allegory. The astronauts took great pride in the patches and often sought professional help to produce the best artwork that they could.

Apollo 15 Commander, Dave Scott, was made aware of Emilio Pucci by his wife Ann and a mutual friend called Louis Deroche. Pucci’s fame in the 1960s was helped by being a particular favourite of Marilyn Monroe, who is rumoured to have been buried in a dress designed by him. Scott wrote to Pucci asking him to help come up with a design and Pucci was honoured to accept. This sketch is one of Pucci's early ideas submitted to the crew in 1970. It is a revised version of an earlier design, in response to crew feedback requesting the use of a red, white and blue colour scheme instead of the blue and green Pucci had first proposed.

The final design for the Apollo 15 patch was completed by NASA graphic artist Jerry Elmore, using Pucci’s sketches. Pucci's design included three stylised birds, which represented the three crew members. They fly closely in formation to indicate the common goal and purpose of the mission. One flies on top, with two closer to the lunar surface, signifying that one crew member would orbit the Moon whilst the other two descended to the surface. The lunar surface in the background of the patch is the actual landing site for Apollo 15 (next to Hadley Rille at the foot of the Appenine Mountains). It also includes the number 15 in Roman numerals amongst the craters. Both Pucci and Elmore reportedly hid their initials/signature somewhere in the background of the design.

Web resources

• NASA Apollo 15 Mission Page