Help with info on alternate design mission patch!

[mrwho25]

Hey all, just won an auction for this alternative mission patch for ST-135 (Atlantis shuttle) and have not seen any other listings online or info in general, aside from what the seller had. Apparently sold at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Russia and was supplied by NASA before the launch. Seller got it from Dr. Juan Flores' estate auction, who apparently had been NASA's Doctor in Residence in Baikonur for 20 years. I was just wondering if anyone has knowledge of this or would know who to reach out to for more info as I'm really curious about it and it seems like a cool piece of history. Thanks!

[collectSPACE]

I cannot speak to the authenticity of the patch (as knockoffs were and continue to be rampant) or its provenance, but the design is that of the ISS increment flown by STS-135 (ULF7), which was used internally at NASA and sometimes by the space station partners. Collectors referred to them as payload patches.

Increment patches were produced for team members, but generally were not for sale to the public.

[mrwho25]

Thanks for the info! I had been doing more searching, and reached out to Tim Gagnon (he's designed NASA patches) and he said the same thing. He is forwarding the info that I had about it to a friend of his, apparently a highly regarded patch historian to see what he thinks of it. How would I go about checking the authenticity of this patch though?

[Jim]

Thanks for the info! I had been doing more searching, and reached out to Tim Gagnon (he's designed NASA patches) and he said the same thing. He is forwarding the info that I had about it to a friend of his, apparently a highly regarded patch historian to see what he thinks of it. How would I go about checking the authenticity of this patch though?

you have to compare it to a known authentic patch