Exceedingly rare original Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) crew patch belonging to veteran Space Shuttle astronaut Karol J. Bobko, who was assigned as an astronaut to the USAF MOL program in 1966. The deep blue and silver patch, 4.75″ in diameter, features a design of a globe and an astronaut helmet with a shooting star, and the surrounding text reads: “Manned Orbiting Laboratory, United States Air Force, Flight Crew.” Also included is an embroidered name patch, 4.25″ x 1″, which features "Bobko" in blue lettering against a silver thread background. In fine condition. Accompanied by a signed certificate of authenticity from Bobko, which reads: “The MOL Flight Crew patch…was obtained during my time with the program in the 1960s, and it has been a part of my collection ever since.”
Part of the United States Air Force's manned spaceflight program, the MOL was developed from early concepts of manned space stations to be used for NASA survey purposes, but was ultimately canceled during the height of the Apollo program in 1969, when more cost-effective unmanned reconnaissance satellites were found to achieve similar results. NASA's space station program went ahead full-blast in the mid-1970s with the advent of Skylab.
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