Flown embroidered Apollo 14 backup crew patch featuring the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoon characters, measuring 4˝ in diameter, with "Beep Beep" at the top and the surnames of the backup crew members ("Cernan - Evans - Engle") along the bottom. Affixed to a letter of provenance signed by Mercury and Gemini astronaut Gordon Cooper, in full: "The cloth patch displayed below was carried on the flight of Apollo 14, the third manned lunar landing. The launch was on January 31 and the crew returned to earth on February 9, 1971. This patch illustrates the good-natured 'rivalry' between the prime and back-up crews. As cartoon character Wile E. Coyote rockets up from earth representing Shepard, Roosa, and Mitchell; he finds that the Road Runner is already on the moon with a U.S. flag and a '1st Team' banner. The '1st Team' was the back-up crew's nickname. The back-up crew made sure this and a few more identical patches were hidden in compartments or manuals which began to float free during the flight. Al Shepard responded to this 'gotcha' during the flight saying - 'Tell Cernan, Beep Beep Your Ass!' via a private communications loop." Framed and in fine condition.
