Patch or badge collecting is called scutelliphily.
In Latin ’scutellus’ means ‘little shield.’
‘Phileein’ in Greek means ‘to love.’

Scutelliphily is a hobby world-wide and goes back hundreds of years. In fact, Geoffrey Chaucer mentions pilgrims and the various badges they acquired in his classic work Canterbury Tales.

The patches in this posting were aquired almost 600 years after Chaucer.
The piligrim in this case was a 12-year-old girl from Rhode Island. Her name was Dianne.

Medieval Christian badges weren’t available when she went on a pilgrimage to Florida with her family in 1975, so she had to settle for these instead.

Space mission patches are collectible.
Other sought after subjects include: scout patches, police or fire department badges, and souvenir patches.

Here’s a photo from 1979 of Dianne wearing her patches sewn on her vest.