Created in 1975 by the design firm Danne & Blackburn, the worm was not meant to be a replacement for NASA’s familiar meatball logo. Instead, it was a sleeker and immanently more reproducible mark that quickly gained favor with the public. Since 1992, it has been used only on souvenirs, however. Now it will be accompanying US astronauts as they travel to the International Space Station in May.
A full history of NASA’s identity systems can be viewed at