The Meatball
$30.00
Years Active: 1959–1975, 1992–present
Designer: James Modarelli
- Next Level 6010: Premium Heather
- 50% Polyester / 25% Cotton / 25% Rayon
- 3 Color Screen Print
- Print Size 9″ wide
- Water based ink
- Colors White, Red 186c, Blue 285c
The Meatball Sweatshirt
$45.00
- Bella Canvas 3901: Grey Triblend
- 52% Airlume combed and ring-spun cotton, 48% polyester
- Side-seamed. Unisex sizing. Crew neck. Ribbed cuffs and waistband. Tear-away label.
- Raglan sleeves
- 3 Color Screen Print
- Colors White, Red 186c, Blue 285c
The round red, white and blue insignia, nicknamed the "meatball," was designed by employee James Modarelli in 1959, NASA's second year. The design incorporates references to different aspects of the mission of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The round shape of the insignia represents a planet. The stars represent space. The red v-shaped wing represents aeronautics. The circular orbit around the agency's name represents space travel.
After it was introduced, the "meatball" was the most common symbol of NASA for 16 years, but in 1975 NASA decided to create a more "modern" logo. That logo, which consisted of the word "NASA" in a unique type style, was nicknamed the "worm." That logo was retired in 1992, and the classic meatball insignia has been the most common agency symbol since.
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The Worm
$29.00
Years Active: 1975–1992, re-instated as a secondary logo in 2020
Designer: Richard Danne & Bruce Blackburn
- Next Level 3600: White
- 100% Cotton
- 1 Color Screen Print
- Print Size 10" wide
- Standard ink
- Colors: Red 2347c
The Worm Sweatshirt
$45.00
- Bella Canvas 3901: Ash
- 60% Airlume combed and ring-spun cotton, 40% polyester
- Side-seamed. Unisex sizing. Crew neck. Ribbed cuffs and waistband. Tear-away label.
- Raglan sleeves
- 1 Color Screen Print
- Colors: Red 2347c
Enter a cleaner, sleeker design born of the Federal Design Improvement Program and officially introduced in 1975. It featured a simple, red unique type style of the word NASA. The world knew it as “the worm.” Created by the firm of Danne & Blackburn, the logo was honored in 1984 by President Reagan for its simplistic, yet innovative design.
NASA was able to thrive with multiple graphic designs. There was a place for both the meatball and the worm. However, in 1992, the 1970s brand was retired - except on clothing and other souvenir items - in favor of the original late 1950s graphic.
Until today.
The worm is back. And just in time to mark the return of human spaceflight on American rockets from American soil.
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The NASA Seal
$30.00
In addition to the insignia, NASA has another official symbol. If the meatball is the everyday face of NASA, the NASA seal is the dressed-up version. The NASA administrator uses the seal for formal purposes such as award presentations and ceremonies. Like the meatball insignia, the seal also includes planet, stars, orbit and vector elements.
- Next Level 3600: White
- 100% Cotton
- Digital Print Tee
Project Mercury Insignia
$30.00
The symbol represented around the seven is the astronomical symbol for the planet Mercury, and the medieval sign for the element mercury as well. It consists of the biological sign for female, topped with “horns” to represent the winged hat that Mercury is usually depicted as wearing.
- Next Level 3600: White
- 100% Cotton
- Digital Print Tee
Project Mercury was the NASA program that put the first American astronauts in space. Astronauts made a total of six spaceflights during Project Mercury. Two of those flights reached space and came right back down. These are called suborbital flights. The other four went into orbit and circled Earth. The first of those six flights was made in 1961. The last flight was made in 1963.
NASA selected seven astronauts for Project Mercury in 1959. Choosing the astronauts was one of the first things NASA did. The agency was only six months old when it chose them.
Alan Shepard made the first Mercury flight. That flight made him the first American in space. The 15-minute flight went into space and came back down. His Mercury capsule was named Freedom 7. Years later, Shepard walked on the moon as commander of the Apollo 14 mission.
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Apollo Emblem
$30.00
The original Apollo emblem, adopted by the program in 1965, used drawings of the Moon and Earth linked by a double trajectory to portray President John F. Kennedy’s goal of “putting a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth” by the end of the 1960s.
The original emblem, which was a composite design said to have been derived from the ideas of NASA employees and contractor personnel, also featured the constellation Orion. Overlaid on a capital letter “A”, the three stars of Orion’s Belt – Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka – formed the bar in the initial for “Apollo”.
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- Next Level 3600: Navy
- 100% Cotton
- Digital Print Tee
Apollo 11 Emblem
$30.00
Following the tradition set by the crew of Gemini V, the Apollo 11 crew was given the task of designing its mission patch. After some discussion the crew decided to keep their names off the patch. Michael Collins explains: “We wanted to keep our three names off it because we wanted the design to be representative of everyone who had worked toward a lunar landing, and there were thousands who could take a proprietary interest in it, yet who would never see their names woven into the fabric of a patch. Further, we wanted the design to be symbolic rather than explicit.”
- Next Level 3600: Black
- 100% Cotton
- Digital Print Tee
"That's one small step for a man. One giant leap for mankind."
- Neil Armstrong
The national effort that enabled Astronaut Neil Armstrong to speak those words as he stepped onto the lunar surface fulfilled a dream as old as humanity. Project Apollo's goals went beyond landing Americans on the moon and returning them safely to Earth. They included:
- Establishing the technology to meet other national interests in space.
- Achieving preeminence in space for the United States.
- Carrying out a program of scientific exploration of the Moon.
- Developing human capability to work in the lunar environment.
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Apollo 13 Emblem
$30.00
Represented in the Apollo 13 emblem is Apollo, the sun god of Greek mythology, symbolizing how the Apollo flights have extended the light of knowledge to all mankind. The Latin phrase Ex Luna, Scientia means "From the Moon, Knowledge."
- Next Level 3600: Black
- 100% Cotton
- Digital Print Tee
"Houston, we've had a problem..."
Apollo 13 was supposed to land in the Fra Mauro area. An explosion on board forced Apollo 13 to circle the moon without landing. The Fra Mauro site was reassigned to Apollo 14.
Apollo 13 was to be the third lunar landing attempt, but the mission was aborted after rupture of service module oxygen tank. Still, it was classified as a "successful failure" because of the experience gained in rescuing the crew. The mission's spent upper stage successfully impacted the moon.