Teams Update the Artemis II Rocket and Spacecraft with the Iconic NASA "Worm" Logo

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, teams combine art and science as they add the NASA "worm" logo to the agency's Artemis II mission, which involves the Orion spacecraft's crew module adapter and the SLS (Space Launch System) solid rocket boosters.

The Danne & Blackburn firm unveiled the iconic logo in 1975 as a contemporary mark for the agency. In 2020, it came out of nearly 30 years of retirement for a restricted number of missions and products.

On January 22, NASA's Exploration Ground Systems and prime contractor Jacobs started applying the red logotype to the pieces that make up the two solid rocket boosters of the Moon rocket. To achieve this, workers marked off the logo's location with tape using a laser projector, painted the area twice, and then added multiple coats of clear primer. The worm logo is made up of letters that are roughly 6 feet and 10 inches tall, and it is 25 feet long overall—a little less than the length of one of the rocket's booster motor segments.

The worm logo's original location during Artemis I will be somewhat altered. The modernist logo will continue to be present on all 17-story boosters of the rocket, but it will now be positioned in front of the booster systems tunnel cover. Providing over 75% of the thrust during launch, the SLS boosters are the biggest and most potent solid propellant boosters ever to be flown.

On January 28, employees of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy applied the ESA (European Space Agency) insignia and the worm logo to the crew module adapter of the spacecraft. The electrical, data, and fluid systems between the main modules are connected by an umbilical connector found on the adapter, which also houses electronic equipment for power, control, and communication.

Technicians joined the crew and service modules in October 2023. The four astronauts will spend roughly ten days traveling around the Moon and back to Earth, lodging in the crew module. The European Space Agency (ESA) will supply the spacecraft's service module, which will power the vehicle and provide air, water, electricity, and thermal control.

Through Artemis, NASA hopes to place the first female, first person of color, and first astronaut from another country on the moon. NASA's plans for deep space exploration center on SLS and the Orion spacecraft, as well as sophisticated spacesuits and rovers, the Gateway space station slated for lunar orbit, and commercial human landing systems.