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Michael Okuda Designs New NASA Flight Operations Emblem

The longtime lead Star Trek graphic designer detailed the honor to us!


The members of the 2017 NASA Astronaut Class are (from left) Zena Cardman, Jasmin Moghbeli, Jonny Kim, Frank Rubio, Matthew Dominick, Warren Hoburg, Robb Kulin, Kayla Barron, Bob Hines, Raja Chari, Loral O' Hara and Jessica Watkins. Photo Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz

NASA

NASA introduced a new group of astronauts last week. On the flight suits the 2017 class of NASA astronauts, they sported a Flight Operations emblem from Michael Okuda — world-renowned artist and longtime lead graphic designer for Star Trek — designed for the Johnson Space Center. It's the latest descendent of the original Mission Control/Mission Operations emblem created by Gene Kranz and Robert McCall.

Speaking to StarTrek.com, Okuda expressed, "I'm honored that this emblem helps to represent the commitment and courage of these remarkable men and women whose work on the final frontier literally takes them where no one has gone before."

He had also designed the STS-125 Mission patch, worn by the crew of Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2009 when they conducted the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

Okuda also offered additional background details. The original Mission Control emblem was designed, as noted, by two space legends, famed artist Robert McCall and iconic flight director Gene Kranz. They used the Greek sigma symbol, which in mathematics refers to a total, to represent the teamwork at the very heart of the Mission Control family.

Over the years, the emblem evolved to include the Space Shuttle. In 2004, flight director Jeff Hanley, then head of Mission Operations, asked Okuda to update the emblem to include the International Space Station as well as NASA's long-term goals of returning to the Moon, and then on to Mars.

Okuda, since then, has revised the emblem twice more, most recently to reflect the merging of Mission Operations with the Astronaut Office. Okuda explained that the current version, now bearing the banner Flight Operations, represents both the Astronaut Corps and the Mission Operations team.

NASA introduced 12 new astronaut candidates, (from left) Francisco Rubio, Jessica Watkins, Loral O’Hara, Warren Hoburg, Robert Hines, Mathew Dominick, Raja Chari, Zena Cardman, Kayla Barron, Jonathan Kim, Robb Kulin and Jasmin Moghbeli, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

NASA/Robert Markowitz

To learn more about the 2017 NASA Astronaut Candidates, go to www.nasa.gov/2017astronauts.


Interested in more works from Michael Okuda? The Star Trek Encyclopedia Revised and Expanded Edition, by Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda, is now available. This edition includes 300 more pages, information, photographs and illustrations, and offers exhaustively researched and detailed entries on the characters, ships, and events from the most recent 17 years of Star Trek television shows and movies (up to Star Trek Into Darkness).

Stay tuned to StarTrek.com for more details! And be sure to follow @StarTrek on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.