Michael Okuda, the scenic art supervisor who is principally responsible for the graphical look of the latter-day Star Trek series, has designed the logo for NASA's next-generation lunar lander, which was unveiled yesterday.

"Altair" is the new name assigned to the vehicle under development to bring four astronauts at a time to the lunar surface and begin the establishment of a permanent outpost by the year 2020. Previously referred to as the "Lunar Surface Access Module," or LSAM, it is equivalent to the LEM (Lunar Module) of the Apollo program.

In fact, the Altair logo is based on the Apollo 11 mission patch, depicting a bald eagle clasping an olive branch in its talons, an image that was conceived by Michael Collins, Apollo 11's command module pilot. Okuda's version of Collins' eagle simplifies the detail of the Apollo artwork and reverses the direction that the bird is landing on the lunar surface. The font used for the word "Altair" is also reminiscent of that used for "Apollo." The triangular shape continues a theme in the emblems for Altair's parent program and sibling projects, and likewise its 10 stars symbolize the 10 NASA centers nationwide that are working to return astronauts to the Moon, according to this article at Space.com.

"Altair is the brightest star in the constellation Aquila and is the twelfth brightest star in the night sky," said NASA's Altair project manager, Lauri Hansen. "The word 'Altair' finds its origins in Arabic and is derived from a phrase that means 'the flying one.'"

The name and logo were revealed Thursday at Johnson Space Center in Houston, as a backdrop for NASA to solicit ideas from contractors on the vehicle's development.

Okuda has designed a number of insignias for NASA, including that for the Orion spacecraft and for Project Constellation, which encompasses the entire effort to return to Moon and then land men and women on Mars.