Here’s a visual overview of the mission patches associated with January 2026 rocket launches. I plan to publish these monthly snapshots to keep the community updated—hope you enjoy it.
CASC / Long March leads the month with five patches. Galactic Energy contributed with two particularly striking designs, even though one is linked to the unfortunate Ceres-2 Demo launch. NRO did not release a special patch for its single launch this month, hopefully we’ll see something similar to the recent “squirrel” patch on a future mission.
Rocket Lab did not disappoint, neither in graphic design nor in mission naming, with “The Cosmos Will See You Now” and “Bridging the Swarm” launches. SpaceX finally released an own patch for the GPS III launch, while the other Falcon 9 missions flew with customer-provided insignia.
There was only one human spaceflight this month: Blue Origin New Shepard NS-38. Will it be the last one NS flight for a while?
If anyone is interested in mission patches, I’m collecting all of these in a dedicated website and a series of free eBooks combining concise mission background with visually engaging layouts. It’s a long-term project documenting more than 1,500 patches from 60 space programs and agencies.
by land4ever