— As it turns out, there is a flip side to the Artemis II mission patch.

Debuted by the crew in April, the triangular badge is the first insignia to represent moon-bound astronauts in more than 50 years. It depicts Earth rising over the moon, while designating the mission "AII" as it is both the second flight of NASA's Artemis program and it "seeks to explore for all and by all."

There is more behind the design, though ... literally.

"When the Astronaut Office reached out to start this new [patch] program, they said, 'Hey, we have an idea for something that we would like to do, but we just don't know if it's even possible,'" said Susan Morris, a sales representative at A-B Emblem, in an interview. "They sent over the art for what is now the official patch — and then they sent the other side."

Based in Weaverville, North Carolina, A-B Emblem has been NASA's source for embroidered patches since 1960. The last (or rather, most recent) astronauts to walk on the moon wore A-B Emblem patches when they arrived back on Earth (in-flight, all of the Apollo crews' insignia were silkscreened on fire-proof glass cloth).

Five decades and hundreds of designs later and A-B Emblem has never made a two-sided mission patch.

The Astronaut Office's idea was to flip the scene on the front of the patch and embroider it on the back. The reverse would show Earth in the foreground with the moon rising behind it, representing the second half of the 10-day-long Artemis II mission when the astronauts — commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — would be heading home after looping around the moon aboard their Orion spacecraft.

"We haven't done a crew patch that way before. We've done ornaments. We've done key fobs using the same idea. But never a double-sided patch," said Morris.

And they still haven't. The official Artemis II patch only has a design on one side and A-B had to finalize their embroidered version of the official version before they could even think about producing a collector's edition. Among the changes they had to make in response to the crew's feedback was how the craters on the moon appeared; the thread used to form the red trajectory; the embroidery of the trail over Earth; and partially eclipsing Wiseman's name by the moon, the latter a nod to the crew going around the rocky orb.

A-B Emblem began sales of the patch to the public on July 20, the anniversary of the first moon landing by the Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969. The company also fulfilled the Astronaut Office's initial order, though they do not expect to make the patches to be worn by the crew for the mission until closer to the launch.

"But we are still doing the double-side patch," Morris revealed. "It's not the official patch, but it is being made for collectors and the crew. Wiseman wanted to give it a shot as something for them to have and to give out."

Morris expects the two-sided patch to be available to order in a few weeks. It is in production now. It is difficult, Morris said, to predict which will sell better. the two-sided collectible is unique but will cost more than the $10 official patch.

Either way, A-B Emblem is ready to make however many patches are needed now, at the time of the early (no later tan April) 2026 mission and into the future.

"We're really excited about it," said Morris."And not just this mission but the whole Artemis program and everything it will achieve."