This was the first NASA mission to have an insignia patch.
After Gemini 3, NASA banned astronauts from naming their spacecraft.
Cooper, having realized he had never been in a military organization without one, suggested a mission patch to symbolize the flight.
NASA agreed, and the patches got the generic name of "Cooper patch".
Cooper chose the image of a covered wagon due to the pioneering nature of the flight.
The slogan "8 Days or Bust" was emblazoned across the wagon, but NASA managers objected to this, feeling it placed too much emphasis on the mission length and not the experiments, and fearing the public might see the mission as a failure if it did not last the full duration.
A piece of nylon cloth was sewn over the official slogan.
This was the first NASA mission to have an insignia patch. After Gemini 3, NASA banned astronauts from naming their spacecraft. Cooper, having realized he had never been in a military organization without one, suggested a mission patch to symbolize the flight. NASA agreed, and the patches got the generic name of "Cooper patch". Cooper chose the image of a covered wagon due to the pioneering nature of the flight. The slogan "8 Days or Bust" was emblazoned across the wagon, but NASA managers objected to this, feeling it placed too much emphasis on the mission length and not the experiments, and fearing the public might see the mission as a failure if it did not last the full duration. A piece of nylon cloth was sewn over the official slogan.
Gemini 5