Apollo 17 The wing of the eagle partially overlays the Moon, suggesting man's established presence there. The gaze of Apollo and the direction of the eagle's motion embody man's intention to explore further destinations in space. The patch includes, along with the colors of the U.S. flag (red, white, and blue), the color gold, representative of a "golden age" of spaceflight that was to begin with Apollo 17. The image of Apollo in the mission insignia is a rendering of the "Apollo Belvedere" sculpture. The insignia was designed by Robert McCall, with input from the crew. Like Apollo 15 and Apollo 16,
Apollo 15 German stamp dealer after their return. Ironically, this mission was one of very few that had been honored with the issue of a commemorative US stamp, with this first use of a lunar rover happening one decade after the launch of the first manned Mercury mission. In 1962, NASA contracted for fifteen Saturn V Moon rockets to achieve the Apollo program's goal of a manned landing on the Moon by 1970; at the time no one knew how many missions would be required to achieve this. Since success was obtained with the sixth Saturn V on Apollo 11, nine rockets