Assignment patch

An assignment patch was a patch or badge seen on uniforms, most notably on Earth, where their use began in the 20th century. The United Earth Starfleet and MACO personnel continued to use assignment patches to denote the ship, station, or other post to which an individual was assigned, as did the later Federation Starfleet.

History
In 20th and 21st century Earth, assignment patches were used on military uniforms and civilian uniforms alike. NASA patches from that era appeared in the Crash-n-Burn Bar in Bozeman, Montana, and at the 602 Club in San Francisco. {{{film|8}}; )

In the early 22nd century, Starfleet personnel wore assignment patches on the sleeve of their left arm, in a similar style worn during the initial period of space flight on Earth. The uniform was later updated, adding the Starfleet patch to the right arm. (ENT; )

In the mid-23rd century, Starfleet continued the tradition of using unique patch emblems for different assignments, albeit placing them instead over the left breast. By 2278, this styling ceased, and Starfleet adopted the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)'s assignment patch as the standard emblem for all Starfleet personnel. Assignment patches thus fell into disuse, and Starfleet supplanted them with badges and eventually combadges. (TOS; ) For example, a style of Starfleet pins incorporating the Enterprise emblem was made into a combadge, used by the crew of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-C), by 2344. 

In the mirror universe, the Terran Empire used the traditional styling from the 22nd century. While the Empire's uniforms had several variations that distinguished them from those of the prime universe, they still wore mission patches on their shoulders. By the 23rd century, the mission patch had been replaced with the Imperial insignia. 

In the alternate reality created by Nero's destruction of the USS Kelvin, assignment patches were done away with much sooner than in the prime timeline, with the Kelvin's patch becoming Starfleet's standard by the 2250s. 

Background information
The assignment patch for the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) and the movie-era Starfleet assignment badge are very similar to those used by the US Space Command in the 20th century and early 21st century.

The assignment patch for was created by Wendy Drapanas, whereas the patch for the  was designed by Anthony Fredrickson. "When Wendy and I had our assignments on the pilot []," recalled Fredrickson, "one of hers was to design the NX-01 patch–which was a cherry assignment that I was very jealous she got! So when Mike [Okuda] gave me the Horizon patch, even though it was only for one show, I was very happy." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 144, p. 36)

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Insigne de mission アサイメント・パッチ