NASA named it's effort to return to the Moon (and eventually onto Mars) ARTEMIS. In Greek mythology, Artemis is the sister of Apollo, goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, the Moon, and chastity.
In 1972 artist Robert McCall based his painting of the Apollo 17 patch on the Apollo Belvedere statue in the Vatican. (also attached). Apollo 17 was the first launch I witnessed in person and was where I learned that artists could design mission patches so it was very personal to me.
I (along with assistance from Dr. Jorge Cartes) designed this as a tribute to the past as well as a commemorative to the future.
Artemis, next to the Moon looks towards Apollo and Mars. Apollo looks at Artemis and back at the Moon. The viewer can imagine he is giving his sister advice on lessons learned.
I knew that A-B Emblem with their experience embroidering the Apollo 17 patch would do this design justice and they did.
