Sculpted Script

I just added a vintage NASA sticker to my deck, and it sports the old “spaghetti logo” of 1978.

The small text at the bottom reads:
“NASA FORM 1368A AUG 1978 PREVIOUS EDITION IS OBSOLETE.”

The history of the NASA logo is a bit unusual:
1915 NACA is formed, using winged logo (see below)
1958 NACA is dissolved and NASA is formed, blue circular seal is designed
1959 NASA simplifies the seal for its new logo

1975 NASA has a new logo designed because the old logo is difficult to reproduce with current technology. A mudslinging campaign against the old logo is started to promote the new logo. The term “Meatball logo” is coined as it looks like a blue meatball. The new sleek letters look like spaghetti. So this 1978 sticker is of that era.

1992 NASA, Administrator Daniel Golden longs for the good old days and revives the old logo. He starts a campaign to eradicate the spaghetti from existence, deriding the logotype as “the worm”. He launched a “look for the worm” hunt that summer with the most prominent one being on the side of NASA headquarters (where Dan Goldin had his office). When Dan visited an office, people would scurry to tape over any remaining worms that may lie about.

To this day, any use of the worm insignia is highly scrutinized by the Visual Identity Coordinator at NASA Headquarters.