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Author
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Topic: History of NASA's official agency insignia
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moorouge
Member Posts: 2454
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 02-25-2012 08:56 AM
   
How many missions/flights did NASA make under 'the Worm' logo? Also, for how many years was it used and why was it introduced and why was it dropped? |
lm5eagle
Member Posts: 429
From:
Registered: Jul 2007
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posted 02-25-2012 09:32 AM
In 1974, as part of the Federal Graphics Improvement Program of the National Endowment for the Arts, NASA hired Richard Danne and Bruce Blackburn to design a more modern logo.They proposed a replacement of the complex meatball with a stripped-down, modernist interpretation where even the cross stroke of the A's were removed. This met with resistance and Danne remembers NASA's administrator, Dr James Fletcher, and deputy administrator, Dr George Low, having the following exchange: Fletcher: "I'm simply not comfortable with those letters, something is missing."Low: "Well, yes, the cross stroke is gone from the letter A." Fletcher: "Yes, and that bothers me." Low: "Why?" Fletcher: (long pause) "I just don't feel we are getting our money's worth!" The use of the worm was approved.Seventeen years later (in 1992), despite its winning the prestigious "Award of Design Excellence" by The Presidential Design Awards, NASA scrapped the Danne and Blackburn design and re-instated the "meatball." |
Tom
Member Posts: 1597
From: New York
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 02-25-2012 09:37 AM
As far as crews wearing the "worm" on walk-out, the first was the ASTP crew in 1975. The last to wear it was STS-76 in 1996. |
Fezman92
Member Posts: 1031
From: New Jersey, USA
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 02-25-2012 10:49 AM
Personally, I never liked the "worm" when looking at it in books. I was 5 when they ended it so I don't remember it being there that much. I was just very bland and dull. The meatball is lively, exciting and it has a bit of youthfulness. |
GoesTo11
Member Posts: 1309
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Jun 2004
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posted 02-25-2012 12:12 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Tom:
As far as crews wearing the "worm" on walk-out, the first was the ASTP crew in 1975. The last to wear it was STS-76 in 1996.
Thanks for that. Myself, I'm conflicted about the "worm" logo. I think the "meatball" is superior, both aesthetically and as a touchstone of NASA's history... but, having grown up in the early shuttle era, I admit the "worm" has a special place in my heart.  |
Tom
Member Posts: 1597
From: New York
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 02-25-2012 12:47 PM
What I found interesting is that for ASTP through STS-6, the "worm" logo was exclusive to the flight crew suit. Beginning with STS-7, the crew wore both the "worm" and original NASA "meatball" patch. |
Cozmosis22
Member Posts: 968
From: Texas * Earth
Registered: Apr 2011
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posted 02-25-2012 05:56 PM
Always considered the change to "the worm" a bit of a waste of time and money, your basic bureaucratic tinkering. It did have a clean "techno look" to it though which was quite distinctive, even from a distance.Consequently, it was another little boondoggle going through all the trouble to revert everything back to the old "meatball" logo. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 02-25-2012 07:05 PM
I once had a c.1986 NASA publication which contained capsule bios of all the astronauts up to that time. When I saw Dan Goldin at a function and asked for his autograph on that item, he circled the logo and said to me, "Get rid of the worm." Seriously.(Personally, I'm a fan of the white NASA logo on blue, which worked well with the flightsuits - I think STS-8 was the last one to have it? Anybody have any history on that version?) |
benguttery
Member Posts: 547
From: Fort Worth, TX, USA
Registered: Feb 2005
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posted 02-27-2012 03:12 PM
If the effort spent fighting or defending the worm would have been spent on something useful, I am sure all the programs would have been better off. Groups spend way too much time creating a cute name, when a good product was the goal. |
carmelo
Member Posts: 1047
From: Messina, Sicilia, Italia
Registered: Jun 2004
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posted 03-19-2012 03:13 PM
When did the "meatball" NASA logo come back on astronauts' flight suits? Was in 1983? And in that period, the meatball was a official logo?Editor's note: Threads merged. |
alcyone
Member Posts: 130
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Sep 2010
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posted 03-19-2012 04:33 PM
NASA "worm" design is too similar, for me anyway, to CN's (Canadian National) railway logo, a design in existence since 1960. As a Canadian, the "worm" design related to CN and made sense for a railway. But for NASA?I think it was a good decision that NASA chucked the CN look-a-like logo and went back to its original and attractive design. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3207
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 02-15-2015 08:41 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Tom:
What I found interesting is that for ASTP through STS-6, the "worm" logo was exclusive to the flight crew suit.
The ASTP prime crew wore the meatball logo during training. KSC-75P-0015 was taken in January 1975 in the MSOB and shows Deke Slayton wearing the NASA meatball on his spacesuit. The backup crew also wore the meatball. |
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