“肉丸”65岁了

Painters work on the official NASA insignia, nicknamed “the meatball,” on the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 29, 2020.
NASA/Kim Shiflett

NASA’s official logo, nicknamed the “meatball,” turned 65 on July 15, 2024. The insignia dates back to 1959, when the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) metamorphosed into an agency that would advance both space and aeronautics: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. After a NASA Lewis (now Glenn) Research Center illustrator’s design was chosen for the new agency’s official seal, the head of Lewis’ Research Reports Division, James Modarelli, was asked by the executive secretary of NACA to design a logo that could be used for less formal purposes.

In the design, the sphere represents a planet, the stars represent space, the red chevron is a wing representing aeronautics (the latest design in hypersonic wings at the time the logo was developed), and then there is an orbiting spacecraft going around the wing. The red, white, and blue design, which includes elements representing NASA’s space and aeronautics missions, became the official logo of the United States’ new space agency in 1959.

Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

2020年5月29日，油漆工在佛罗里达州NASA肯尼迪航天中心的飞行器装配大楼上绘制绰号为“肉丸”的官方徽章。
NASA/Kim Shiflett

绰号“肉丸”的NASA官方徽标将于2024年7月15日迎来65周岁生日。这个徽章可以追溯到1959年，当时美国国家航空咨询委员会（NACA）蜕变为一个推动太空和航空发展的机构：美国国家航空航天局（NASA）。美国国家航空航天局刘易斯（现为格伦）研究中心插图画家的设计被选为新机构的官方徽章后，刘易斯研究报告部门的负责人詹姆斯·莫达雷尔利（James Modarelli）应NACA执行秘书的要求，设计了一个可用于不太正式场合的徽标。

在设计中，球体代表行星，星星代表太空，红色的楔形是代表航空的机翼（在设计徽标时，高超音速机翼是最新的设计），然后是一个绕着机翼运行的航天器。红、白、蓝三色设计包含了代表NASA太空和航空任务的元素，于1959年成为美国新成立的航天局的官方徽标。

影像来源: NASA/Kim Shiflett