— The Expedition 6 patch may include his name now, but Don Thomas will not be flying to the International Space Station when the mission launches. Citing medical concerns, NASA announced that another Don — Pettit — will join the crew in Thomas' place.

The reassignment results in the "original" Expedition 6 crew patch becoming a collector's item.

 
Update for July 29, 2026

: Dayna Justiz, with The Space Store provided an update on the availability of the "official" ISS Expedition 6 and STS-113 patches:

"AB Emblem never started production on STS-113 patches and had only a few Expedition 6 (which were destroyed) when NASA changed the order. Any patches out there are not 'official' and were never approved by the astronaut office. Nor were they produced by the official supplier."

 
Released in March 2002, the Expedition 6 insignia depicts the ISS orbiting the Earth, with the crews' names — including Thomas' — appearing along the border.

The emblem will presumeably be replaced with one that names Pettit but essentially keeps the same design.

The same will need to be done for the STS-113 patch, which also identifies the Expedition 6 crew.

This is not the first time a patch has had to be altered. At least ten NASA designs have reached production only to be changed later. Most notable was the emblem that ultimately flew on STS-51D.

Changing no less than four times, the insignia was first proposed by the STS-41F crew. When their mission was cancelled, they carried their design to STS-51E, but with two changes: "Challenger" was swapped for "Discovery" and French astronaut Patrick Baudry was added.

When Senator-turned-astronaut Jake Garn was named to the mission, the patch was again amended. Then NASA bumped the crew — less Baudry — to join payload specialist Charles Walker on STS-51D. Back on Discovery, the orbiter's name was restored and Walker was added to finalize the patch.

Collectors seek these error patches as they are often much rarer than the designs that ultimately fly. As such, they can sell for as much as five times that of the corrected patch.