This is news that NASA enthusiasts will consider completely epic. NASA is bringing back its iconic “worm” typeface logo starting with the upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule Demo-2 mission planned for next month.
The mission will mark a historic milestone for America’s space agency: NASA astronauts flying on an American rocket from American soil for the first time since the Space Shuttle Program ended in 2011.
NASA officially retired the 1970s-era worm logo, designed by Richard Danne and Bruce Blackburn, in 1992, instead using the original blue spherical “meatball” logo for official agency work. The more streamlined worm logo has remained unofficially in space culture, but the upcoming Commercial Crew Program mission will mark its official return to NASA.
“The retro, modern design of the agency’s logo will help capture the excitement of a new, modern era of human spaceflight on the side of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle that will ferry astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the Demo-2 flight, now scheduled for mid- to late May,” NASA says.
“And there’s a good chance you’ll see the logo featured in other official ways on this mission and in the future. The agency is still assessing how and where it will be used, exactly.”
Further Reading:
- 1976 Graphics Standard Manual – NASA
- Inside the Rise and Fall of NASA’s Beloved Worm Logo – Wired
- Art of the Seal – The New York Times
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