The patch is in the shape of a shield, showing Gemini docked to Agena, with a spacewalking astronaut whose umbilical traces out the number 9. In the course of events, the originally planned Agena target was lost due to a failed launch; and the launch shroud on the replacement ATDA (augmented target docking adapter) failed to deploy properly, thwarting the docking attempt. Stafford described the sight of the ATDA with its partially opened shroud as an "angry alligator". Cernan later observed, "What a patch that would have made!" While the mission designation was changed to Gemini-Titan IXA to reflect this substitution and the corresponding change in mission objectives, the patch was not updated -- in contrast to the revision of the Gemini 6A patch under similar circumstances. It is worth noting that this was the first mission flown by a backup crew -- the prime crew of Charles A. Bassett II and Elliot M. See having been killed in a plane crash the previous February. There is no evidence that Bassett and See had worked on a patch design. The patch was worn on the right breast. It is interesting to note that the next time Stafford and Cernan flew together -- on Apollo 10 -- the mission patch for that flight was again in the shape of a shield. In fact, the whole design of the two patches is remarkably similar.
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